Drafting continuously behind a lead cyclist, versus alternating the lead every 500 m, cut bike VO2 (49.9 vs 59.8 mL/min/kg), HR (155 vs 173 bpm) and lactate (3.5 vs 6.3 mmol/L) and produced a faster 5 km run (17.87 vs 17.15 km/h) in 10 national-level triathletes
Participants
n=10 male national-level triathletes; each completed a simulated sprint triathlon (0.75 km swim, 20 km bike, 5 km run) twice: alternate draft (ADT) — riding in front of or behind another cyclist, rotating every 500 m — and continuous draft (CDT) — drafting continuously behind a professional cyclist who reproduced the ADT split times, so cycling speed was the same.
Protocol
Design: two sessions per triathlete, one simulated sprint triathlon under each drafting modality (alternate vs continuous draft), at similar cycling speeds (from the abstract)
VO2, ventilation (VE) and HR were recorded throughout the bike and run; blood lactate at the end of each leg.
Key Findings
On the bike, CDT was significantly cheaper than ADT: VE 148.1 vs 167.2 L/min, VO2 49.9 vs 59.8 mL/min/kg, HR 154.7 vs 173.1 bpm, lactate 3.5 vs 6.3 mmol/L.
The run after CDT was faster: 17.87 vs 17.15 km/h, at similar cycling speeds.
During the faster CDT run, VE, VO2, HR and lactate were higher (175.6 vs 170.4 L/min; 69.7 vs 66.8 mL/min/kg; 182.6 vs 177.3 bpm; 9.6 vs 7.5 mmol/L) — the athletes spent the saved energy on the run.
Practical Application
In 10 national-level triathletes riding a 20 km bike at identical speed, drafting continuously behind a lead rider instead of rotating the lead every 500 m lowered bike VO2 by ~10 mL/min/kg, HR by ~18 bpm and lactate by ~2.8 mmol/L, and the following 5 km run was ~0.7 km/h faster — in draft-legal racing, staying in the draft rather than taking turns at the front buys a measurably better run.
Not from this paper; the base's own practice: practise pack skills so you can hold a wheel safely and legally through the whole bike leg.
Limitations
Simulated triathlon with a cooperative lead cyclist reproducing split times; real-race positioning, surges and pack dynamics add variability.
n=10 men, national level; the abstract does not state randomisation of session order.
How this entry was checked and changed
Why this level
regraded 2026-09-27 from B+: crossover, n=10
Content correction 2026-09-27
Entry said continuous drafting was compared with "non-drafted or late-only drafting" -> abstract: the comparison was continuous draft (CDT) versus alternating the lead with another cyclist every 500 m (ADT); there was no non-drafted or late-only condition.
Added the abstract's numbers (bike VE/VO2/HR/lactate, run speed 17.87 vs 17.15 km/h, higher run VE/VO2/HR/lactate after CDT) and n=10 national-level men; differences in the lead bullet are arithmetic on those values.
Level regraded B+ -> B (crossover, n=10); "randomized" removed from Type since the abstract does not state it.
2026-09-28: added Protocol from the abstract (Europe PMC/PubMed PMID 11252078).
2026-09-28: PMID 11252077 belonged to an unrelated paper; replaced with 11252078, the PubMed record for this entry's own DOI.