WATT’S THE FREQUENCY?

Sports scientists James Hopker and Louis Passfield have suggested a powerbased addition to the anti-doping system. Hopker explains… “The power profile of a cyclist can be plotted as the relationship between different sequential records of power output and the corresponding time durations during a whole racing season. By overlaying these curves, you can see which riders are most powerful in which situations, and so provide a unique signature of a rider’s physiological potential at any time. A power profile may allow the determination of a pattern of performance capacity for a rider and can flag rapid progressions that arouse suspicion. “There are hurdles to overcome, of course. You’d require power validity and accuracy across the board. A possible solution would be the use of ‘neutral’ power meters that are controlled and stored by the UCI. These power meters could be distributed to riders at the start of each race and collected immediately after they’ve crossed the finish line. Data could also be transmitted in real time in an encrypted manner to a UCI database for analysis. “Another factor would be to understand if performances were truly maximal. The various tactics within road cycling mean that some riders may rarely reach maximal intensities during a race, especially if their role is to control a race by producing very long efforts at moderate to low power outputs.”