SYMPOSIUM OF SPEED
Science & Cycling is an annual conference that brings together cycling’s finest coaches, exercise physiologists and academics to reveal what’s happening at the tip of the peloton while flagging up what lies ahead down the road. It’s usually held for two days in the week prior to the Tour de France’s Grand Depart, but Covid forced a change this year to Leuven, Belgium, just prior to the World Championships. And, despite the labyrinth of passenger locator forms, PCR tests and general Covid confusion, Cycling Plus was there to find out how you can ride stronger and more comfortably in 2022…
01 Learning from the track
Kurt Bergin-Taylor’s a former student at Loughborough University, has a PhD in exercise physiology and worked on Cycling Canada’s Olympic track programme before taking up his current role as trainer at Team DSM. He’s a man who successfully marries academia and real-life application, and says all roadies can learn from his time in Canada.
“We had a relatively disappointing Worlds in Berlin [2020] and what we noticed – especially the women – was that we were really struggling over the first two laps,” recalls Bergin-Taylor. “Our flying starts were comparable with the best, but our standing starts weren’t. We didn’t have the ability to generate force early on and it was costing us. I wanted to understand why.”
Key to uncovering the problem was the uniqueness of
