ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Exercise Physiology
This article is part of the Research TopicMultidisciplinary Perspectives on Team Sports: Contextualizing Training and Competition Demands -Volume IIView all 15 articles
Physical Performance and Tactical Experience: Determinants of Competition Outcomes in Amateur vs. Elite Cyclists – A Descriptive Study from the UCI Tour of Lithuania
Provisionally accepted
Leonardo Cesanelli1
Daniele Conte2
Berta Ylaite1Bent Rønnestad3Thomas Lagoute4
Tomas Venckunas1
Fabio Zambolin5*- 1Lietuvos sporto universitetas, Kaunas, Lithuania
- 2Universita degli Studi di Roma Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
- 3Universitetet i Innlandet - Studiested Lillehammer, Lillehammer, Norway
- 4Universitetet i Agder, Kristiansand, Norway
- 5Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom
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The aim of this descriptive study was to compare laboratory and in-competition performance metrics between elite and amateur cyclists competing in the 2024 UCI Tour of Lithuania with respect to physical performance, racing approach, and tactical behavior. Two teams of five elite and five amateur cyclists completed laboratory tests one month before the event. Tests assessed peak oxygen uptake (V̇ O2peak), gross efficiency, peak power in incremental and sprint protocols, and seasonal power records. During the five-stage race (870.2-km, 4039-m elevation gain), competition data, including stage and general classification results, power data, heart rate, and gpx tracks, were analyzed. Descriptive statistics and Cohen's d effect sizes (ES) were used to assess between-group differences. Amateurs exhibited lower V̇ O2peak, maximal aerobic and critical power (ES: 1.68–2.37). During competition, amateurs spent more time above critical power (ES: 2.09–3.25) and exhibited a more homogeneous power distribution within their team (ES: 0.49–1.82). In contrast, elite cyclists displayed a polarized effort profile. These differences corresponded to poorer stage and overall classification results for amateurs (ES: 1.39), while elites followed specific competition strategies, contributing to better stage and overall results. Nevertheless, all amateurs successfully completed the five-stage race. Amateur cyclists demonstrated sufficient physical capacity to complete the Tour of Lithuania despite lower aerobic capacity and limited experience in team tactics. These findings illustrate the rising performance levels in amateur cycling while emphasizing persistent gaps in physical conditioning, race experience and execution, particularly in energy management, pacing strategies, and situational decision-making, factors that remain key competition-specific performance limitations compared to elite cyclists.
Keywords: criticalpower, Cycling Performance, Endurance, power distribution, Tactical behavior
Received: 15 Dec 2025; Accepted: 26 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Cesanelli, Conte, Ylaite, Rønnestad, Lagoute, Venckunas and Zambolin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fabio Zambolin
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