Athletic performance and recovery–stress factors in cycling: An ever changing balance

We sought to examine whether the relationship between recovery-stress factors and performance would differ at the beginning (Stage 1) and the end (Final Stage) of a multi-stage cycling competition. Sixty-seven cyclists with a mean age of 21.90 years (SD = 1.60) and extensive international experience participated in the study. The cyclists responded to the Recovery-Stress Questionnaire for Athletes (RESTQ-Sport) and rated their performance (1 = extremely poor to 10 = excellent) in respect to the first and last stage. Two step-down multiple regression models were used to estimate the relationship among recovery (nine factors; e. g. Physical Recovery, Sleep Quality) and stress factors (10 factors; e. g. Lack of Energy, Physical Complaints), as assessed by the RESTQ-Sport and in relation to performance. Model 1 pertained to Stage 1, whereas Model 2 used data from the Final Stage. The final Model 1 revealed that Physical Recovery (beta =.46, p =.01), Injury (beta =-. 31, p =.01) and General Well-being (beta =-. 26, p =.04) predicted performance in Stage 1 (R2 =.21). The final Model 2 revealed a different relationship between recovery-stress factors and performance. Specifically, being a climber (beta =.28, p =.01), Conflicts/Pressure (beta =.33, p =.01), and Lack of Energy (beta =-.37, p =.01) were associated with performance at the Final Stage (R2 =.19). Collectively, these results suggest that the relationship among recovery and stress factors changes greatly over a relatively short period of time, and dynamically influences performance in multi-stage competitions.