The athletes were contacted by the researchers via phone between two and three weeks before the race. This race was the first experience

in an ultra-endurance team relay cycling event for all athletes. The subjects had 12.9 ± 8.8 years of experience in endurance events, and their average weekly training volume was from 15 hours up to a maximum of 30 hours, with a total volume between 800 and 1,000 hours per year. They were all members of the Spanish Cycling or Triathlon Federations and, up to the start of the study, reported no related medical illnesses. All the subjects passed a medical examination and gave their informed written consent, approved by the Ethics Committee of the Catalonian Sports Council, prior RG7420 price to their participation. Table 1 Physical and physiological EVP4593 ic50 characteristics of the subjects Subjects 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 M ± SD Age (years) 34.4 39.7 29.6 38.3 43.3 39.8 31.0 37.5 36.7 ± 4.7 Height (cm) 167.0 172.4 189.1 165.1 177.6 173.5 176.0 176.0 174.6 ± 7.3 Body mass (kg) 65.3 68.9 79.9 65.7 73.9 74.5 72.5 72.4 71.6 ± 4.9 BMI (kg·m2) 23.4 23.2 22.3 24.1 23.4 24.7 23.4 23.4 23.5 ± 0.5 Body fat (%) 9.5 10.8 9.7 11.1 9.2 10.4 9.8 10.6 10.1 ± 0.7 VO2peak (mL·kg-1·min-1) 70.2 71.9 62.5 53.1 69.1 56.4 74.7 69.2 66.4 ± 6.8 HRmax (bpm) 184 165 177 165 178 174 176 176 174 ± 9 VT (% HRmax) 72 74 75 83 74 77 80 85 77 ± 5 RCP (% HRmax) 91 89 90 89 91 89 90 92 90 ± 1 Wpeak (W·kg-1) 6.1 6.2 6.3 5.7 6.4 6.0 5.5

5.9 6.0 ± 0.3 BMI: body mass index; VO2peak: almost peak of oxygen uptake; HRmax: maximum heart rate; VT: ventilatory threshold expressed as % of HRmax; RCP: respiratory compensation point expressed as % of the maximum heart rate; Wpeak: peak of power. Preliminary testing One week prior to the competition, all our athletes reported to a physiology

laboratory to perform an incremental VO2max test under controlled conditions (22 ± 1°C, 40 – 60% relative humidity, 760 – 770 mmHg barometric pressure). They were asked to refrain from caffeine, alcohol and heavy exercise on the day before the tests, and to report to the laboratory at least two hours after having eaten. An incremental test was performed on an electronically braked cycle ergometer (Excalibur Sport, Lode, The Netherlands) modified with clip-on Selleckchem 3MA pedals. The exercise protocol started at 25 watts (W) and was increased by 25 W every minute until voluntary exhaustion. The pedaling cadence was individually chosen within the range of 70 – 100 revolutions per minute (rpm). During the test, oxygen uptake (VO2), minute ventilation (VE), carbon dioxide production (VCO2) and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) were measured, breath-by-breath, using a computerized gas analyzer (Cosmed Quark PFT-Ergo, Italy).