Transition from youth categories to elite cycling: relationships between early career performance and UCI World Tour success
BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to describe the possible roles of cyclists` early career performance, on the transition process to elite cycling categories.
METHODS: Data from national and international databases, and results achieved during the UCI World Championships, were retrospectively analyzed considering the Italian national Youth-U16, Junior-U18, and U23 categories, and international Junior-U18 and UCI World-Tour categories.
RESULTS: The 15% of Youth-U16, the 38.8% of Junior-U18 and the 60% of U23 athletes who ranked top-10 between 2007 and 2013, scored points in UCI World Tour competitions between 2012 and 2018. The 1.6% of Youth-U16, the 8.3% of Junior-U18 and 25% of U23 athletes who ranked top-10 between 2007 and 2013, ranked among the Italian Top-10 in the UCI World-Tour individual classification between 2012 and 2018. Performance level in Youth-U16 category displayed a low correlation with UCI World Tour performance while the performance level in Junior-U18 category displayed a moderate correlation. The 34% of the Junior World Championship TOP-25 cyclists, participated in the elite competition. Trivial to small correlations emerged between Junior and elite World Championship performance levels.
CONCLUSIONS: Early performance seems not to represent a good predictor of elite performance, while the Junior-U18 and the U23 performance level, emerged as potential indicators of future success in the elite categories.
© Copyright 2022 The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. Edizioni Minerva Medica. Kaikki oikeudet pidätetään.
Aiheet: | pyöräily juniori huippu-urheilu huippu-urheilu menestyminen suorituskyky suorituskehitys kilpailu |
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Aihealueet: | kestävyys urheilu junioriurheilu |
DOI: | 10.23736/S0022-4707.21.13244-X |
Julkaisussa: | The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness |
Julkaistu: |
2022
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Vuosikerta: | 62 |
Numero: | 12 |
Sivuja: | 1577-1583 |
Julkaisutyypit: | artikkeli |
Kieli: | englanti (kieli) |
Taso: | kehittynyt |