O068 Sleep Cyclists? Night-time Recovery of Competitors in the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes

Abstract

Abstract Introduction The aim of this study was to examine the capacity of professional cyclists to recover between daily race stages while competing in the 2022 editions of the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes. Methods The 17 participating cyclists were 8 males from a single team (aged 28.0yr) and 9 females from two separate teams (aged 26.7yr). Throughout the events, the cyclists wore a wrist-worn monitor (WHOOP 4.0) to capture recovery metrics related to sleep (quantity/quality) and autonomic activity (heart rate and heart rate variability). The primary analyses tested for a main effect of ‘day type’ – i.e., rest, flat, hilly, mountain or time trial for males; and flat, hilly or mountain for females – on the various recovery metrics. Results During their respective events, males obtained an average of 7.2(±0.1)h sleep each night, with sleep efficiency of 86.4(±1.2)%; and females obtained an average of 7.5(±0.3)h sleep each night, with sleep efficiency of 89.6(±1.2)%. For males, there was a main effect of ‘day type’ on recovery, such that heart rate variability during sleep was lowest after mountain stages. For females, there was a main effect of ‘day type’ on recovery, such that the percentage of light sleep in a sleep period (i.e., lower-quality sleep) was highest after mountain stages. Discussion Some aspects of recovery were compromised in cyclists after the most demanding days of racing, i.e., mountain stages. Overall however, the cyclists obtained a reasonable amount of good-quality sleep while competing in these highly demanding endurance events.