Become a Science of Sport Supporter by making a small monthly pledge. You'll show your support, help us stay "athletic-greens-free", and get access to our world-class discussion forums

In this Spotlight, we start on the cobbled roads of Belgium to explore why riding on cobbles is so hard, and how not so good vibrations compromise mechanical power, cost more energy and require more exertion to produce the same power output. It's Pogacar vs van der Poel, Round 3 this week on the cobbles of Roubaix, and we wonder whether smart tactics will be enough to overcome the Slovenian's firepower, and whether van der Poel's larger size may tilt the balance in his favour?

We discuss Jimmy Gressier's return, in Decathlon's own version of a super-shoe, as he runs an exceptional 5k road time. Speaking of Decathlon, a good week for the brand with Paul Seixas continuing his rise, this time with dominance in the Tour of the Basque Country, and hope for a challenger to Pogacar.

A new research paper suggests doping prevalence among University students of 13.7%, but it uses novel statistical methods to get there, after only 3.4% of the athletes admit to PED use. We discuss that study, and what it means for anti-doping knowledge. Less covert (but only a little) about doping are the athletes of the upcoming Enhanced Games, recently valued at $1.2 billion, but now being transparently spoken about as a 'product launch' for longevity and performance enhancement drugs. The recently disclosed peptide stack of one competitor, world's strongest man Mitchell Hooper, is the basis for a chat about the grift those Games.

Finally, our teen phenom watch list has two more names, 14-year old girls who broke 23s last week. Ross and Gareth wonder if the gap between adults and children is narrowing, or whether we're just caught in a cycle of noticing more and more such performances.

Links

• Study on the effect of vibrations on physiology during cycling
• Another study simulating vibrations, this time showing how much oxygen cost goes up
• Article on Gressier, including his struggles with chocolate after his World title last year
• World Athletics concept on the Marathon as a standalone event
• The Performance Enhancing drug survey that inspired our Bayesian stats discussion
• Zero positives in the 2026 Olympics - the clean games?
• Mitchell Hooper's peptide stack
• Forbes article on The Enhanced Games
• WADA's prohibited list

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Support the Science of Sport - become a supporter, show your support, keep us ad free, and you get access to the best sports science community around!

Show Notes

In this Spotlight, we kick off with cycling, and wonder whether we're seeing a tactical evolution in cycling in response to long-range attacks. We also talk about Group 2 syndrome, and why elite cyclists could be a behavioural economist's ideal cohort. Cycling safety is in the Spotlight, after the inquest into the death of Muriel Furrer concludes, and new devices over-promise on risk reduction and head impact measurement.

In athletics, Josh Kerr is going for a mile world record, and it'll actually be legitimate, while teen phenom Gout Gout is in the news, though not for winning this time. We discuss how misplaced the general expectation of teenage progress is, and why we may be setting young talent up to fail, no matter how it succeeds. Speaking of failure, Albert Korir failed three drugs tests and confessed, and is now serving a ban. Do we even care?

And finally, another teenage phenom is in the news, as Indian 15-year old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smashed a 15-ball half century to go with a 35-ball century last year. He's now old enough to play for India. But should he? That's a different question...

Links

• Article on the Muriel Furrer inquest
• A device claims to measure head impact to protect MTBers
• Josh Kerr going for the mile World Record
• Gout Gout beaten in what is described as an "upset", but that betrays unreasonable expectations
• Article on Albert Korir's positive tests and ban
• Why Sooryavanshi should not be fast-tracked into the Indian T20 squad

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Absa Cape Epic is a 700km, eight-stage, two-man team mountain bike race renowned as one of the toughest and most prestigious in the world. But what does it take to win this event against some of the world's best mountain bikers? We spoke to Mike Posthumus, the Head of Performance for the Specialised Factory Racing Off-road team, about the preparation, recovery, race tactics, and behind-the-scenes work that helped his team of Matt Beers and Tristan Nortje win the overall title. From practical tips on recovery to the amazing stats behind the performance, this is a rare insight for anyone taking on a multi-stage endurance event.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.