average tour de france heart rate

What does it take to be a Tour de France contender?

Relentless drive, unwavering resilience, exceptional fitness – all required just to make it to the startline of the Tour de France. What more, then, does it take to challenge for the win?

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1. Unbreakable work ethic

2. world-beating watts per kilo, 3. oxygen-burning furnaces, 4. lionhearted beats, 5. jack sprat fat levels, 6. endless appetite, 7. brimming carb tanks, 8. solid sleep patterns, 9. a-head for heights, 10. can stand the heat, what makes pogačar so special.

• How did Vingegaard and Remco win Grand Tours last year?

The Tour de France is an almighty undertaking. This year’s edition packs in 3,404km over 21 stages, with an accumulated elevation total in excess of 56,000 metres. Just getting selected for the start requires all the riders to be in peak physical condition, but winning the biggest race of all demands an even more finely turned body. The general classification (GC) contenders are arguably the fittest athletes on the entire planet – but what exactly does it take, in terms of talent and training, to get there? In other words, what makes them the best of the best?  

The basic description of a Tour de France winner – the last being Jonas Vingegaard ( Jumbo-Visma ) – won’t shock anyone: almost always European, typically aged between 24 and 34; usually with a height between 175 and 185cm (5ft 9in and 6ft 1in), and low body weight of between 60 and 66kg. But there have been exceptions: two-time champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) was only 21 when he claimed his first title in 2020 – 98 years after the race’s oldest winner, 36-year-old Firmin Lambot, took the title in 1922. The race’s first ever winner in 1903, Maurice Garin, was a petite 162cm (5ft 4in), while 2012 winner Bradley Wiggins was 190cm (6ft 3in). On the scales, five-time winner Miguel Induráin was 80kg, some 28kg heavier than his Spanish compatriot Luis Ocaña who won in 1973. As for non-Europeans, there have been three: American Greg LeMond won in 1986, 1989 and 1990; Australian Cadel Evans won in 2011; and Colombian Egan Bernal became the first South American winner in 2019. 

There are clearly no strict physical parameters, at least not on the surface, so what do we know about their habits – their monk-like devotion to their single objective – and how they get their bodies ready for the biggest challenge in sport? 

The road to a Grand Tour starts all the way back in the dark, cold winter months, when riders log 30-hour training weeks of low-intensity rides, building aerobic efficiency and reinforcing the body’s ability to burn fuel as fat – to push hard while using as little energy as possible. As spring nears, more tempo, sub-threshold and threshold work are introduced, and the work becomes ever more tailored and specific. 

“There are no sessions specifically for GC riders, but what is most important for them is that they’re able to recover from big loads,” says Bora-Hansgrohe ’s head of performance, Dan Lorang. “GC riders will train in a three-to-one rhythm: three weeks of load, one week of recovery. These riders do a lot more climbing, and they train to reproduce high-intensity efforts after four to five hours.” Putting in hard efforts after many hours of steady riding is bread-and-butter for prospective Tour winners. “An example would be four hours of training at Zone 2 , finishing off with 30 minutes of threshold climbing to simulate a final climb,” adds Lorang. “GC guys also train on their time trial bikes two or three times a week.” To simulate Grand Tour demands, many GC riders train intensely before heading straight into a one-week stage race, or extend a heavy block of training to imitate three weeks of racing. Two weeks before the Tour, they begin their taper with more rest periods and less intense work. 

To think of cycling as solely a watts per kilogram game removes the romance and the panache, but time gaps are made in the mountains and in time trials thanks to a rider’s power output. Put simply, if a rider wants to win the Tour de France, they need to be able to maintain an exceptional power output over a sustained period of around 30 minutes after several hours of attritional, varied-intensity riding. Not just exceptional, but better than every other cyclist in the world.

The numbers are mind-boggling. When Jonas Vingegaard crushed the field on Stage 11 to win atop the Col du Granon (11.3km at 9.2% gradient) at last year’s Tour, he averaged 6.1W/kg for 35 minutes 52 seconds. No one has gone faster. Six days later, on Stage 17, Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) climbed the Col d’ Azet (8.34km, 7.9%) averaging 6.58W/kg for a time of 22:24. Again, it was the fastest time ever recorded.

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Jump on Zwift and try riding at 6.5W/kg – then imagine sustaining it for 20 minutes. You’ll get a taste for just how hard GC riders are able to push. Over shorter periods of around 10 minutes, some riders, including former Tour winner Chris Froome ( Israel-Premier Tech ), have registered eye-popping figures of around 7.5W/kg. 

During a normal stage before any attacks go off, riders generally pedal along at 220 to 250 watts. That’s a stout effort for most of us amateurs, but bear in mind that Tadej Pogačar’s functional threshold power (FTP) – the highest power he can sustain for one hour – is as high as 415 watts. 

VO2max – very simply put – is the maximum rate at which the body can use oxygen during exercise, so it is used to measure an individual’s aerobic capacity. Measured in millilitres of oxygen per kilogram per minute, the relative figure in an averagely fit 30-year-old male is usually in the upper 40s. It can be improved substantially with training. 

What about VO2max in those who win the yellow jersey? Way, way higher. When Chris Froome was dominating Tours, he could intake 88.2ml/kg/min. Remarkably, that’s not the best. American Greg LeMond, winner of the Tour on three occasions, had a reported VO2max of 92. If your VO2max isn’t in the 70s, at least, you’re probably not going to the Tour.

During the 2020 Tour de France, the WorldTour team now known as EF Education-EasyPost released data on each of their riders’ heart rates and heart rate variability . Among their roster of eight, the average resting heart rate was 42bpm before the race began. During the race, this rose to 51bpm ahead of the first rest day, but after a day off it dropped to 40bpm, highlighting the power of recovery.

Chris Froome had a reported resting heart rate of 29bpm, and Miguel Induráin’s was claimed to be even lower, at 28bpm – about half the speed of a typical adult’s heart rate. A pro rider’s cardiovascular system is so efficient that this plodding heart rate is fast enough, at rest, to supply their body with all the blood and oxygen it needs. 

On intense days in the mountains, with full-throttle racing, GC riders spend as much as 50% of their day performing in the upper heart rate zones, at 80-90% of their maximum heart rate.

You only need to look at a Tour de France rider to know that they aren’t carrying so much as a twig’s worth of spare timber. A ‘normal’ man usually has body fat of between 18 and 24% – but for our Grand Tour cyclists, determined not just to make it over the mountains but to triumph up them, their body fat needs to be as low as possible, around 5-6%.

There is a danger, however, in going too low. The body needs between 3% and 5% of body fat to protect organs and to regular body temperature, so while there have been some reported cases of riders competing with less than 5% of body fat, that is the lowest they can go without jeopardising their health.

It’s become a cycling press cliche to quantify a Tour de France rider’s daily calorie intake by showing the equivalent number of McDonald’s Big Macs. Oh go on, then: it’s 12 to 18 Big Macs, depending on the stage. 

A Tour rider shovels anywhere between 6,000 and 9,000kcal of food down them per 24 hours during a stage race. While racing, up to six hours per stage, they burn around 1,000kcal per hour. Unsurprisingly, riders are prone to losing weight and shedding fat during a three-week race, since consuming enough – in food and carb-laden drinks – isn’t easy.

Dropping a little weight is sometimes in the plan: at the 2018 Giro, Chris Froome only ate 2,500 calories on stage 11 as he was attempting to drop to his ideal weight of 68.5kg in time for his famous late-race assault that secured him the maglia rosa. 

Riding relentlessly hard for three weeks is only possible to endlessly consuming huge amounts of carbohydrate – before and during each stage. Iñigo San Millán is UAE-Team Emirates’ head of performance: “A rider needs to absorb 500 grams of glycogen [stored carbohydrate] before the race starts,” he says. “They should be completely full before the race, and empty afterwards.”

Filling up the proverbial tank relies on mammoth breakfasts containing 200g carbs – equivalent to about 13 slices of bread – with similarly gut-busting amounts for dinner once the day is done. During the race they replenish their energy stores with about 100g carbs per hour, in various forms including energy gels , carb drinks and rice cakes. Over the course of a day, a rider imbibes a massive carb load of about 1,200g – compared to about 300g in a normal diet.

“ Sleep is the most important recovery resource for people in general, but especially for cyclists who use their bodies so intensively,” says Jumbo-Visma’s head of performance, Mathieu Heijboer. “The enormous effort during a race damages the body… [and] physical recovery is therefore the most important thing. Deep sleep is essential. If it is disturbed, it is at the expense of recovery, which slows down reaction times, causes memory problems and has a negative effect on motor coordination.”

Getting a good amount of shut-eye, night after night, is essential for someone who wants to win the world’s biggest race. Some teams carry their own mattresses and bedding, such is the emphasis on good sleep. On average, riders in a Grand Tour sleep for eight hours, with most going to bed at 11.30pm and waking up at 8am. If that sounds late, it’s because stages don’t start until around 1pm, and dinner is often not served until 9pm.

Several times a season, riders go on altitude camp to increase their blood haemoglobin levels – the component of blood that carries oxygen and gives blood its red colour. Having more haemoglobin allows riders not only to perform better at higher elevations but to use oxygen more efficiently at sea level too.

Bora-Hansgrohe’s Dan Lorang: “For a rider wanting to win a Grand Tour, I would recommend that they spend two 18-day periods at altitude, and then one block of 15 days before the Grand Tour.” This approach is mirrored across the WorldTour. The final altitude block has to finish as close as possible to the start of the race, as half of the haemoglobin increase disappears after a week, and returns to normal after a fortnight. If the altitude camp is too early, “the effect evaporates,” according to Professor Lars Nybo of the University of Copenhagen. “High-altitude camps conducted in the winter or pre-season will almost certainly have no direct effect on performance several months later.”

Temperatures on Stage 15 of last year’s Tour de France got close to 40ºC, putting riders under even greater strain. As summer temperatures climb ever higher, Ineos Grenadiers have begun to perfect cooling strategies, having realised that excessive heat can have a direct effect on a rider’s power output. “A one degree increase in core temperature results in a 1% drop in gross efficiency, which means about a 10-12 change in watts,” says Dan Bigham, Ineos’ performance engineer.

Ice vests have become a common sight – for good reason. Studies have shown that a rider’s performance can decline by as much as 16% when not acclimatised to hot conditions . Given at least two weeks getting used to the weather they’ll be racing in, these losses can be reduced to as little as 2%. 

Although Tadej Pogačar isn’t going into this year’s Tour as the defending champion, it is widely accepted that the Slovenian is the greatest bike rider on the planet. Some believe he may even surpass the winning feats of Eddy Merckx . But what makes him so good?

“First things first, he has a massive motor,” says Allan Peiper, his former DS, “and a recuperative power that I’ve never seen before. It’s natural, for sure. There are very few guys who can go into a Grand Tour and get better and keep the motor running, but Tadej’s one of them.

“I’ve been on [UAE-Team Emirates] training camps and riders have ridden themselves into the ground trying to keep up with him and it hasn’t been beneficial for them.”

It’s not just the 24-year-old’s exceptional cardiovascular system. “The other defining thing about Tadej is his approach and outlook on life: he’s always got a positive mindset,” Peiper adds. “He has a way of putting everything into perspective, and that ability to do that when you’re in the hurt box in a Grand Tour keeps you afloat.” 

“You can have all these great physical characteristics, but if you’re weighed down by the mental side or overpowered by stress or the fear of failure, it’ll bring you down. Tadej has the physical talent as well as this unbelievable mental side. I have no idea what motivates this kid, but it’s definitely not his ego or by having a chip on his shoulder.”

First-time winners: How did Vingegaard and Remco win Grand Tours last year?

All of last year’s Grand Tours were won by riders who had never before won a three-week race: Jai Hindley in the Giro d'Italia ; Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour de France; and Remco Evenepoel in the Vuelta a España .

The latter’s coach, Koen Pelgrim, summarises how the current world champion ensured he was in peak condition to win the Spanish race. “He needed a really good base to be able to work on that to optimise his shape. A few months before we were focusing on shorter work, and then closer to the Vuelta it was about specific and longer efforts so that he could handle multiple consecutive days and multiple efforts. 

“The Vuelta had a lot of steep ascents, so he did a lot of efforts on steeper climbs, and he also trained in the middle of the day in Spain so that he was used to the heat. When it’s warm and steep, you suffer more, and we wanted him to be totally acclimatised to that.”

As for 26-year-old Vingegaard, his coach Tim Heemskerk faced a dilemma after the Dane finished second at the Critérium du Dauphiné. “He was in really great shape and I had a choice to make: do I let him have more recovery days or not?” he reflects. “We had three weeks until the Tour, we couldn’t let him get ill, and we couldn’t let him overdo it. This is the time when a coach really has to analyse and manage the situation.

“Getting someone into the best possible shape requires a lot of hard work from the rider, their coaches, the nutritionist and focusing on planning everything correctly. Optimising recovery is really essential.”

This full version of this article was published in the print edition of Cycling Weekly.  Subscribe online  and get the magazine delivered direct to your door every week. 

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A freelance sports journalist and podcaster, you'll mostly find Chris's byline attached to news scoops, profile interviews and long reads across a variety of different publications. He has been writing regularly for Cycling Weekly since 2013. In 2024 he released a seven-part podcast documentary, Ghost in the Machine , about motor doping in cycling.

Previously a ski, hiking and cycling guide in the Canadian Rockies and Spanish Pyrenees, he almost certainly holds the record for the most number of interviews conducted from snowy mountains. He lives in Valencia, Spain.

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How Hard are the Tour de France Stages for Cyclists?

By Jeremy Powers

We break down the difficulty of various Tour de France stages as riders take on the mountains, flat sections and time trials, using WHOOP data and other metrics.

The Tour de France is widely considered one of the most grueling and difficult athletic events on the planet. For 21 stages spanning 23 days, cyclists push their bodies to the max--day, after day, after day, after day. How hard are the various individual stages? We wanted to take a look at data we’ve been able to capture over the years from the big stages of the Tour de France, as well as the Giro d’Italia, another Grand Tour stage race that is three weeks long. We can use this data to better understand the incredible effort that these riders will undertake at this year’s Tour de France.  

The Strain and Exertion of Tour de France Stages

Generally speaking, a "normal" day at the Tour has a rider putting out somewhere around 230-250 watts on average (think of this as pressure on the pedals), which equates to about 900 kilojoules (a fancy way to say calories) per hour. Multiply that by 5 hours and it’s almost 5000 calories! And more often than not, this equates to a WHOOP strain score above 20 (strain is how we measure cardiovascular exertion, on a scale of 0-21). On some of the harder stages, this is closer to 300+ watts and 1100 calories/KJ per hour. Even for the fittest athletes in the world, this is a wild number and gets your cardiovascular system really fatigued. Strains over 20.5 are not uncommon.  

Daily WHOOP Strain Data from Each of Last Year’s Tour de France Stages

This graphic shows the average strain (in blue) for members of the EF Education - NIPPO Pro Cycling Team during each stage of the 2020 Tour de France:

The average daily WHOOP strain and recovery for EF riders DURING THE 2020 TOUR DE FRANCE.

Below we’ll take a look at some of this year’s Tour de France stages (a mountain stage, a flat stage and a time trial) and break them down based on data we have from previous races.  

Mountain Stage & High Strain

Stage 8 of this year's Tour de France is the first true mountain stage: Distance: 94 miles (151 kilometers) Elevation: 11,000 feet of climbing ETA to Finish Stage: 5 hours, depending on weather, heat, etc.

The layout of Stage 8 in the 2021 Tour de France.

If we look at the last time we visited this stage, we actually have data from Lawson Craddock in 2018 . Back then, it was Stage 10 of the 2018 Tour de France. To give you a sense of things during that moment, at the time Lawson said this to us: “It was a rough day for me. I felt better than expected on the first climb, but that feeling was short lived. I suffered over the second mountain pass, but once we hit Col de Romme I was cooked.” Lawson had a solid 70% WHOOP recovery that day with a 20.6 strain, his most strenuous stage of the Tour to that point. His average heart rate for the ride was 146 beats per minute, his max heart rate was 183 bpm (near his top) and he burned around 4,600 calories/KJ. To use another example, Stage 6 of this year’s Giro d’Italia was also a very similar alpine stage--100 miles, roughly 5 hours of riding and 11,200 feet of climbing. Here’s a glimpse at some of EF rider Simon Carr ’s metrics from that stage: Recovery: 25% Day Strain: 20.5 Average HR: 145 bpm (nearly identical to Lawson’s mentioned above) The Giro’s Stage 6 had comparable terrain, mileage and elevation to Stage 10 of the 2018 Tour de France, and to what we’ll see in Stage 8 of the Tour this year. On these big climbing days there is no hiding. We can almost certainly expect the riders hitting strains of 20.6 and higher, and hopefully they’re waking up in the green ready to take on this massive day. But with it being the 8th straight day of competition, following a hectic first week and no rest days yet, chances are this is going to be a stage of attrition. Napping , blue light glasses, nutrition, hydration , massage, focussing on sleep consistency … literally every recovery method in the book is what the riders will be striving for leading into and after a huge stage like this.  

Flat Stage & Max Heart Rate at the Finish

Stage 19 of this year’s Tour fits this billing: Distance: 129 miles (207 kilometers) Elevation: 4,120 feet of climbing ETA to Finish Stage: 5 hours and should end in a sprint

THE LAYOUT OF STAGE 19 IN THE 2021 TOUR DE FRANCE.

Now that we’ve seen what a day in the mountains looks like, let's crunch a little data from some flat stages. These stages of a Grand Tour tend to be “easier” relative to what the riders are doing on the hillier days. Here’s a snippet of what we wrote during the 2018 Tour: “Lawson completed Stage 07 today, spending more than six hours on the bike. It was a long, mostly flat stage referred to as ‘boring’ by a few riders.” This is less true on days when certain riders have to “ride in the front” for the team’s sprinter or “get in the breakaway,” so let’s exclude those and just focus on a typical flat stage from someone who’s “sitting in the bunch.” At the Giro this year, the 13th stage was 126 miles long and flat as a pan. Simon Carr only burned 2700 calories/KJ with a WHOOP day strain of 15.9. This is an atypical stage of a Grand Tour, but it highlights just how different each day can be. Also, towards the end of these flatter stages it’s often very chaotic and dangerous as they come into the finish line, and it gets going fast . Looking at Simon’s heart rate data from this stage, you can see that he is full gas in the last 30-45 minutes and maxed out his HR just to finish in the pack.

Simon Carr's heart rate during the flat Stage 13 of the 2021 Giro d'italia.

Time trial stage & non-stop elevated hr.

Stage 5 of the Tour this year is a time trial: Distance: 17 miles (27 kilometers) Elevation: 1089 feet of climbing ETA to Finish Stage: 30 minutes

THE LAYOUT OF STAGE 5 IN THE 2021 TOUR DE FRANCE.

Time trials are dubbed “the race against the clock,” which is a short (usually under 60 minutes) but constantly hard individual effort. The strain we see is different from any other days of a Grand Tour. If the riders pace it right, their heart rates will be lower at the beginning and progressively go up and up to the finish line. When you factor in what they do to warm up and cool down it can still end up being a “big day”--especially considering riders often need to finish within a certain time percentage of the winner in order to stay in the race. They can’t go out there and lallygag even for a moment, they have to keep moving even if they're not in the hunt for the overall or stage win. Lawson completed Stage 20 of the 2018 Tour (a 31-mile time trial) in just under 48 minutes, and his day strain still topped 16. Similarly, Simon hit a strain of 16.6 at the Giro’s Stage 21 time trial this year, despite being on the bike for only 18+ miles and 36 minutes. However, he spent 33 of those 36 minutes at 80% or more of his max heart rate, with his HR rarely dipping below 160 bpm the entire time.   RELATED: Pro Cyclist Heart Rate, Strain & Tour de France Data

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Home TOUR DE FRANCE TdF 2022 – How Fast Are The Tour Riders?

TdF 2022 – How Fast Are The Tour Riders?

We like to think we're fast, be it in the sprint for coffee or dominating the morning crew up Chappies. The pros, though, are real savages.

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So you think you’re getting fast? Ever wonder how you’d fare against a Tour de France pro? Now you can see for yourself. We’ve taken a look at some key performance metrics, including a pro’s average speed in the Tour de France (and some other fun ones), to see how you would stack up against the world’s best cyclists.

Average Time Trial Speed

Average Rider: 30-32kph

Tour Pro: 47-50kph

Average Speed on Flat Terrain

Average Rider: 25-28kph

Tour Pro: 40-45kph

Maximum Sprint Power

Average Rider: 600 to 800 watts

Tour Pro: 1 200 to 1 400 watts

Average Cobblestone Speed

Average Rider: 20-25kph

Tour Pro: 35-40kph

Average Resting Heart Rate

Average Rider : 60 to 100 bmp

Tour Pro : ~40 bmp

Sandwiches Consumed

Average Rider: 1 to 3 sandwiches

Tour Pro: ~30 sandwiches

Daily Bottles of Drink Mix Guzzled

Average Rider: 1 to 2

Tour Pro: 4 to 13

How Long it Takes to Climb the Col du Tourmalet

Average Rider: 115 minutes

Tour Pro: 60 minutes

Bikes at Your Disposal

Average Rider: 1 to 2 bikes

Tour Pro: 4 to 5 bikes

READ MORE ON: power pro cycling pro racing speed tdf tour de france 2022

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Power Output during the Tour de France

Affiliation.

• 1 Department of Preventive and Rehabilitative Sports Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. [email protected]
• PMID: 17497569
• DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-964982

The aim of this study was to evaluate the demands of riding a "Grand Tour" by monitoring both heart rate and power output in 15 professional cyclists. SRM power output profiles (SRM Trainingsystem, Jülich, Germany) were collected during 148 mass start stages during the 2005 Tour de France and analyzed to establish average power, heart rate (HR) and cadence produced in different terrain categories (flat [FLT]; semi-mountainous [SMT]; mountainous [MT]). The maximal mean power (MMP) for progressively longer durations was quantified. Average HR was similar between FLT (133 +/- 10 bpm) and SMT (134 +/- 8 bpm) but higher during MT (140 +/- 3 bpm). Average power output revealed a similar trend (FLT 218 +/- 21 W [3.1 +/- 0.3 W/kg], SMT 228 +/- 22 W [3.3 +/- 0.3 W/kg], and MT 234 +/- 13 W [3.3 +/- 0.2 W/kg]). Cadence during MT was approximately 6 - 7 rpm lower (81 +/- 15 rpm) compared to FLT or SMT. During MT stages, the MMP for 1800 sec. was highest (394 W vs. 342 W) but the MMP 15 was lower (836 W vs. 895 W) compared to FLT. The data document comprehensively the power output demands during the Tour de France.

• Anaerobic Threshold / physiology*
• Bicycling / physiology*
• Competitive Behavior
• Heart Rate / physiology
• Muscle Contraction / physiology*
• Muscle, Skeletal / physiology*
• Oxygen Consumption / physiology*
• Physical Endurance / physiology*
• Physical Exertion
• Prospective Studies

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Gallery: What data screens do Tour de France riders have on their head units?

How do you like yours and how do they compare to those of the world's best.

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Modern bicycle computers are a far cry from the initial speedos many of us used way back when. From speed and distance to everything including GPS navigation, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and a host of performance metrics, modern head units are more like mini-computers than simple bicycle computers.

With all that computing power comes a vast range of data fields and metric options including current, live, and max speed, power, heart rate, and cadence, to name but a few. Most head units now offer custom workout pages giving riders options to chop and change the exact metrics on show.

With so much choice, though, the most difficult thing is often deciding just what to have on any given page. Many riders will opt for multiple pages with varying displays offering a host of live, average and max data.

Over the past week, we have collected a range of head unit displays to get a look at which data fields the world’s best riders in the Tour de France prefer to have in view mid-stage.

While all the obvious fields such as distance, power, and heart rate appeared throughout the bunch, a lot of riders now prefer to have the course map and navigation functions front and centre. The maps feature gives riders an idea of the course that lies ahead but, interestingly, of all the head units we saw, not a single rider opted to include an elevation feature on their screen.

Here’s what we saw.

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What to Know About Normal Heart Rate Measurements

You get a lot of information from your fitness tracker. Here’s what to know about heart-related metrics.

At first glance, normal heart rate appears to be a straightforward metric : It’s a mere count of how many times your heart “beats” or contracts per minute. Though simple to calculate—you just need to count your pulse or look at your smartwatch—it provides robust feedback for athletes.

Your heart rate measures exercise intensity, indicates possible overtraining , can guide recovery , and is a marker of possible illness or dehydration . Over time, heart rate is also a tool to gauge cardiovascular fitness.

As a sports cardiologist, I receive a ton of questions about heart rate: What is a normal heart rate? When should I pay attention to heart rate? When should I seek a heart evaluation?

Let’s “take a beat” and go over some of these common questions about heart rate and athletes.

What are normal heart rate measurements?

When you get on your bike and press “start” on your smartwatch , you also begin a series of motions: Moving your legs and using your strength to go fast and/or get up hills. Your breathing rate will rise to support these efforts and, therefore, your heart will augment the amount of oxygenated blood circulating throughout your body by increasing its rate of contraction, a.k.a. beats per minute.

Your heart rate rises quickly when you start a workout partly due to a trigger from the sympathetic (“fight or flight”) nervous system response. It is normal for your heart rate to rise in conjunction with the level of effort.

As you ride, and if you maintain a constant effort or pace, your heart rate will plateau, give or take a little variance. If your intensity increases, your heart rate will increase. For example, if your ride includes sprints , your heart rate will increase during these intervals and decrease during recovery periods.

During a sustained pace, there may be subtle rise in heart rate over time. This is called “cardiac drift,” a phenomenon where heart rate rises in response to a rise in body temperature and loss of hydration . In fact, your heart rate may rise by 10 to 15 percent during this “drift,” depending upon how hydrated you are. To reduce this drift, you can take in electrolytes and fluid before, during, and after exercise. Additionally, cardiac drift will minimize as your body acclimates to training.

As you can see, so many factors affect heart rate. So, what is a normal heart rate during exercise? Well, it depends.

A “normal” heart rate during exercise depends upon variables like age, genetics, level of fitness , intensity of exercise, hydration status , presence of anemia (or low oxygen-carrying capacity in the blood), and even the presence of heart problems like heart disease, abnormal heart rhythms, and abnormalities in heart contractility (how forcefully your heart contracts).

Red flags for heart rate during exercise include patterns such as a lack of rise in heart rate with exercise and sudden rises and falls in heart rate without any change in intensity. Heart rates above 250 beats per minute are likely arrhythmias unless proven otherwise.

What does your heart rate say about your performance and fitness?

Not only does heart rate respond to a variety of stimuli, but it can also be used a marker of fitness. For instance, the rate of decline in heart rate after stopping exercise, known as “heart rate recovery,” can reflect cardiovascular fitness .

As fitness improves, there is greater reactivation of the parasympathetic nervous system— dubbed the “rest and digest” system—which leads to a rapid decline in heart rate over a period of as little as 30 seconds. The more trained or “fit” you are, the faster your heart rate will decline after exercise.

In addition to heart rate recovery, resting heart rate can be used as a measure of fitness and improving athletic performance. Regular exercise improves cardiac efficiency; your heart becomes a stronger pump able to send oxygen-rich blood throughout your body without needing to contract as often. Aerobic exercise also enhances processes within muscles to increase oxygen delivery. Consequently, resting heart rate declines as cardiovascular fitness improves.

There are a number of ways to improve heart rate recovery and resting heart rate, and these solutions also improve overall fitness: optimizing sleep , avoiding overtraining and fatigue , augmenting hydration, avoiding excessive caffeine and alcohol consumption, avoiding high temperatures, and maintaining consistent exercise habits.

What happens to heart rate during rest and recovery?

During period of rest and optimal recovery, heart rate is lower than with exercise. The American Heart Association defines adult resting heart rate as 60 to 100 beats per minute with heart rate during sleep approximately 10 to 20 beats per minute slower. This range is a generalization better suited for sedentary individuals since it does not take cardiovascular fitness into account. Consistent exercise will lower resting heart rate well below 60 beats per minute and even lower during sleep.

In general, there is no discrete heart rate that is considered “too low.” However, if a low heart rate is associated with symptoms such as fatigue , lightheadedness, losing consciousness, and/or exercise intolerance, it may reflect inadequate oxygen delivery throughout the body related to a metabolic abnormality, thyroid dysfunction, arrhythmia, heart disease, or inadequate heart contractility—to name a few—and warrant medical evaluation.

Resting heart rate remains relatively constant aside from slight and normal fluctuations. If you notice your resting heart is trending up over time, consider these modifiable causes: poor quality and insufficient sleep, alcohol consumption , dehydration, overtraining, inadequate recovery, and heat and humidity.

Factors that would warrant additional medical investigation include acute illness, medications, thyroid dysfunction, and anemia. Symptoms such as palpitations, chest pain, lightheadedness and losing consciousness may be associated with variance in resting heart rate for which you should seek a medical evaluation.

Do wearables provide reliable measurements?

Wearable devices can be an incredible way to track heart rate at rest, during sleep , and with exercise, though they are only as good as the technology within them.

Moreover, heart rate trends are more useful than isolated data points in characterizing whether training is progressing, recovery is lagging, illness is settling in, or a medical issue may be occurring. Wearable data can also help doctors and medical providers determine whether symptoms correlate to heart rate changes and help in the diagnostic process.

When it comes to selecting a device, chest straps often provide the most reliable heart rate data due to the proximity of the sensors to the heart. However, they can cause skin irritation and be uncomfortable in heat or under a sports bra. Smart watches, bracelets, and rings may be more comfortable alternatives to a chest strap, though inaccuracies in heart rate data may arise due to irregular motion, sweat , sensor location, and even skin changes (such as pigmentation, tattoos, and scars). My bottom line when it comes to devices? Trust your body over the tech.

The bottom line on keeping tabs on heart rate measurements: How useful is knowing your heart rate? Exceptionally useful when it comes to gauging equilibrium within your body, training adaptations, insufficient recovery and illness and much more. While heart rate provides an abundance of insight, it is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to optimizing athletic performance and maintaining a healthy, well-balanced lifestyle.

Tamanna K. Singh, M.D., is a board-certified adult clinical and sports cardiologist and RRCA-certified run coach. She earned her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine Residency at Boston Medical Center. She completed her Cardiovascular Medicine fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York and her specialty training in Sports Cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is currently the codirector of the Sports Cardiology Center at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio and assistant professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. To date, she has held several council roles with the American College of Cardiology (ACC). As a sports cardiologist, Dr. Singh provides cardiovascular care for professional, competitive, and recreational athletes and describes herself as an advocate for safe participation in sports. Media and print contributions include the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, and others. Outside of her profession, she enjoys running marathons, hitting the weights in the gym, playing sous-chef to her wonderful husband while cooking plant-based meals, and playing with her four beautiful dogs.

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Mont Ventoux summit finish likely for 2025 Tour de France after four-year absence

Full route to be revealed on October 29, Pyrenean time trial also rumoured

One of cycling's best-loved ascents, the daunting Mont Ventoux, could well be back on the Tour de France route in 2025 after a four-year absence, with a summit finish rumoured for the 'Giant of Provence' for the first time in the race since 2016 .

According to regional newspaper La Marseillaise , a summit finish on the Ventoux is "expected" in 2025. The media outlet also cites local département president Dominique Santoni as saying that "there was a very strong possibility that the Tour de France comes here next year," although Santoni did not say exactly where he means by 'here'.

The Ventoux last appeared in the Tour de France back in 2021, when a spectacular double ascent culminated in Wout van Aert claiming a solo victory in the nearby town of Malaucène. 

The 2021 Tour de France Ventoux stage was also where the Jonas Vingegaard-Tadej Pogačar rivalry first reached a high point, as Vingegaard briefly dropped the Slovenian near the summit of the monster climb. Pogačar went on to win overall, but Visma-Lease a Bike later said his difficulties that day on the Ventoux became the starting point for their development of a strategy to defeat the UAE Team Emirates racer in the 2022 Tour and again in 2023.

Rather than 'just' crossing the top of the Ventoux like in 2021, the Tour de France last had a summit finish on the mountain in its 2016 edition, when a wind-blighted ascent forced the organisers to end the stage at the Chalet-Reynard restaurant, roughly three quarters of the way up the climb. 

Victory that day went to the recently retired breakaway specialist Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Dstny), but it is mainly remembered for Chris Froome's desperate run up the last part of the climb after he came off worse in a crash involving an in-race TV motorbike.

As was only to be expected given its name, the Ventoux formed the main attraction of the CIC-Mont Ventoux Denivélé, the now-suspended one-day race, both in 2022 and 2023. However, it has not formed part of the Tour.

Should the 'Giant of Provence' finally feature on the 2025 Tour de France route, there are rumours it would tackled sometime in the second week. Next year's Tour has a confirmed Grand Depart in Lille in northern France on July 5.

Other, unconfirmed rumours Tweeted by cycling writer ammattipyöräily , suggest that a return to La Plagne in the Alps, last visited in 1995 by the Tour de France, is also possible a decade on in the race.

La Plagne was where Miguel Indurain all but sealed the deal on his fifth Tour de France win as he shed all his rivals with a remorseless pursuit of fellow contender Alex Zülle. 

Eight years earlier, the ski station in the eastern part of the Alps was where Stephen Roche staged one of cycling's most famous comebacks in a duel against Pedro Delgado, prior to going on to win the Tour outright.

A visit to Brittany?

At the moment, nothing has been officialised about the 2025 Tour de France route barring the opening three days in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais northerly region, a stage 4 start in Amiens and - after this year's finish in Nice - a final run-in to Paris on July 29.

The 2025 Tour starts on Saturday July 5 in Lille with a sprinters stage, then immediately switches to a much hillier format for a long trek to the northern coast on Sunday July 6, finishing in Boulogne-sur-Mer. Stage 3 - on Monday July 7 - should be another bunch sprint, finishing in nearby Dunkirk. The Tour finally leaves the region via a start in the westerly city of Amiens on Tuesday July 8.

According to velowire the website which specialises in predicting the route of the upcoming Tour de France in as much detail as possible, the route will likely continue to head west through Normandy and Brittany. The latter would be partly in homage to another five-times Tour de France winner and Brittany's most famous racer: Bernard Hinault, whose 40th and final Tour victory took place in 1985.

Stages in central France could then follow, with the first week 'extended' to July 14 and a finish on the Mont Dore near Clermont-Ferrand on stage 10. A transfer south to Toulouse on the first rest day on the Tuesday of week 2 could precede at least a couple of days in the Pyrenees, possibly featuring a mountain time trial and prior to the speculated ascent of the Ventoux.

Week 3 then takes the Tour into the Alps, about which very little is yet known, Velowire speculates this could be due to the densely packed cycling calendar this year, delaying organisers' ability to finalize their plans. The website also suggests that a global drop in the number of sprint stages compared to 2023 could well be on the cards as well.

🇫🇷 2025 Tour de France (5/7-27/7) rumours | #TDF2025Rumours circling around that this might actually be happening. Next summer it will be 30 years since Miguel Indurain's 'riding them off the wheel 1 by 1' -show on ⛰️🏁 La Plagne, 1995 Tour de France.pic.twitter.com/htanB3O7JH September 23, 2024

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Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews , he has also written for The Independent ,  The Guardian ,  ProCycling , The Express and Reuters .

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