Are professional road cycling countries selecting their talents based on anthropometric characteristics which suit the countries' terrain?

IF 1.2 4区 医学 Q3 SPORT SCIENCES
Jens G Voet, Robert P Lamberts, Jos J de Koning, Teun VAN Erp
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: This study investigates if countries are more focused on certain specializations (one day, climb, sprint, time trial [TT] and grand tour [GC]) in male professional road cycling and if this is possibly linked to the countries landscape (for example, does a mountainous country have more climbers?) and anthropometric characteristics (does the mountainous country also have lighter cyclists?) of their cyclists.

Methods: Body weight, height, procyclingstats (PCS) points per specialty were gathered from 1810 professional cyclists out of 15 countries, as well as the elevation span of those countries. To compare the anthropometric differences between different countries, height was normalized based on the average height of the countries' population, while BMI was used as a correction for body weight.

Results: The average anthropometrics (body weight and height) of professional cyclists in a country are related to the relative number of PCS points collected in GC, sprint and climb races. This means that when a country has shorter and lighter cyclists, they score relatively better in GC and climb races and vice versa for sprint races, which indicates that countries are focused on certain specialties. However, these relationships were not found for TT and one day PCS points. In addition, countries with larger cyclists have a less mountainous (elevation span) landscape compared to countries with lighter cyclists.

Conclusions: The results suggest a selection bias towards smaller/lighter or taller/heavier cyclists in various countries, probably caused by the terrain of their home country, leading to missed opportunities for some cyclists to reach professional level.

职业公路自行车赛国家是否根据适合本国地形的人体测量特征来选拔人才?
研究背景本研究调查了在男子职业公路自行车赛中,各国是否更专注于某些专项(单日赛、爬坡赛、冲刺赛、计时赛[TT]和大巡回赛[GC]),以及这是否可能与各国的地形地貌(例如,山地国家是否有更多的爬坡运动员?)和自行车运动员的人体测量特征(山地国家是否也有体重较轻的自行车运动员?方法:收集了 15 个国家 1810 名职业自行车运动员的体重、身高、职业自行车统计(PCS)各专业积分以及这些国家的海拔跨度。为了比较不同国家之间的人体测量差异,根据各国人口的平均身高对身高进行归一化处理,同时使用体重指数对体重进行校正:结果:一个国家职业自行车运动员的平均人体测量(体重和身高)与在GC、冲刺和爬坡比赛中获得的PCS积分的相对数量有关。这意味着,当一个国家的自行车运动员身材矮小、体重较轻时,他们在GC和爬坡赛中的得分相对较高,反之则在冲刺赛中得分较低,这表明该国的自行车运动侧重于某些专业。然而,在 TT 和单日 PCS 分数上却没有发现这些关系。此外,与体重较轻的国家相比,自行车运动员较多的国家山地(海拔跨度)较少:结果表明,各国在选择自行车运动员时存在偏差,即偏向于身材较小、体重较轻或身材较高、体重较重的运动员,这可能是由于他们本国的地形造成的,从而导致一些自行车运动员错失了达到专业水平的机会。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
2.90
自引率
5.90%
发文量
393
审稿时长
6-12 weeks
期刊介绍: The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness publishes scientific papers relating to the area of the applied physiology, preventive medicine, sports medicine and traumatology, sports psychology. Manuscripts may be submitted in the form of editorials, original articles, review articles, case reports, special articles, letters to the Editor and guidelines.
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