Fig. 2

Training impulse (TRIMP) and daily strain of male cyclists during the Tour de France plotted as a function of day of race (panels a and c) and week of race (panels b and d). AU, arbitrary units. ‘B’ represents the baseline mean calculated at least one week prior to the first day of the race; ‘P’ indicates the post-race mean calculated from post-race night 2 to post-race night 9; ‘R’ indicates rest days; ‘T’ indicates individual time trial; ‘F’ indicates flat stages; ‘H’ indicates hilly stages; ‘M’ indicates mountain stages. Data are presented as mean (bars) and 95% confidence intervals (error bars). Closed circles represent individual cyclists. In the panel a for TRIMP, the results of the post-hoc analysis are not shown. In panels c and d for daily strain, * indicates a significant difference from baseline (p < .05)