Durability in cycling performance: an emerging concept

Associate Professor Jeroen Swart, MBChB, MPhil (SEM), FFIMS, ACSEM, PhD

A/Professor Swart is a Sports Physician and Exercise Scientist based at the University of Cape Town and at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa where he is the Head of the Division of Sports and Exercise Medicine. He is a founding member and director of the Cape Sports Medicine Group, the largest provider of Clinical Sports Medicine services on the African Continent and the affiliated post graduate teaching center for the University of Cape Town. He is one of 7 members of the International Sports Medicine Federation (FIMS) Global Scientific committee and was the chair of The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) Scientific commission in the 4 year cycle leading to the planned 2020 Olympics. The HPALS research unit and affiliated clinical Sports Medicine Practice are recognised as one of 26 global collaborating centers of excellence by the International Sports Medicine Federation (FIMS) for their excellence in research and clinical expertise in this field. A/Professor Swart is the director of this collaborating center. HPALS is ranked in the top 50 academic centres globally for Sports Sciences and is the only center from the African continent which is ranked in the top 100 globally. He has published extensively in the field of cycling, covering topics from the validity and accuracy of performance testing to cycling biomechanics and load monitoring. Additional research interests include the nature of fatigue in which he completed his PhD titled “Perceptual cues in the regulation of endurance exercise”, injury prevention in sport, and medical conditions specific to sport and exercise. He is an NRF rated scientist with a C2 rating. He has published over 50 peer reviewed scientific manuscripts in international journals, mostly in top quartile journals and has an H-index of 25. He has worked with global icons in the sport of road and mountain bike cycling, such as Tour de France winners Jan Ulrich, Chris Froome and Tadej Pogacar amongst many others and represented South Africa at the 2012 London Olympic Games as the coach for cycling.As the performance director for UAE Team Emirates World Tour Cycling, currently the top team in World Cycling and winner of the 2020, 2021 and 2024 Tour De France, he is responsible for a number of the important components. These include the overall management of the performance team, nutrition, biomechanics, strength and conditioning and the monitoring of training load and fatigue.