On Friday two-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome will release data from his physiological testing carried out earlier this year. We don't know what the tests or the data will show and we can only speculate at this point. However, there are certain areas that the testing should address, and while they will provide a snapshot, what's important is that they're used as part of a long-term project.
To reduce it to a simple explanation, cycling performance is the result of three inputs, all of which are measurable and, in combination, determine the performance capabilities of the cyclist.
1. VO2max. This is the capacity of the body to use oxygen at maximum exertion. Think of it as the size of the engine. It's a function of many things, but is best understood as the integration of how the brain activates muscle which drives demand for blood and oxygen that is met by the heart and lungs.
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The very best endurance athletes in the world have VO2max values in the high 80s, with some even in the 90s. There's very little data in scientific journals on the very best cyclists – Froome's stands to be among the first when eventually published. To date, we have only media reports and claims that may be exaggerated. They have Greg Lemond at 92 ml/kg/min, Miguel Indurain at 88 ml/kg/min and Nairo Quintana at 86 to 90 ml/kg/min, depending which source is used.
2. Efficiency. In human physiology, this is measured as the oxygen used to produce effective work. For instance, if a cyclist is producing 100 Watts of actual power on the bike, they might be using 500W of metabolic energy to do so. They would then be 20% efficient – think of it as work output divided to true work input.
There is some debate about the upper limits for efficiency in cyclists. Some data have measured elite cyclists above 25 per cent, but those values are disputed, with most other testing showing values between 21 and 23 per cent. Lance Armstrong's highest recorded efficiency was 23.1 per cent. We don't know the values for any of the current generation of top cyclists.
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