Performance Optimisation in Simulation

The world of sport is certainly a very different one from that of engineering simulation, but what can we learn from it?

Let’s look at elite road cycling. A competing team may have the shared goal of winning one ofthe classic multi-stage races, such as the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, or the Vuelta a España. Maybe their target is to win the overall race, or maybe it is to win specific trophies, such as the sprinter’s points trophy or the best climber’s trophy. Perhaps they have identified and targeted specific stages of the race to win.

In the Grand Tour races, the attention is always on the big name General Classification (GC) leaders, but the success of these leaders is totally dependent on the team around them. It’s not just the other riders in the race team; several key ingredients make up an Elite Cycling Team:

• The riders

• The bikes and equipment

• The support team

The riders certainly have to be exceptional athletes. They need great stamina, strength, endurance, power, and acceleration. But they also need specific characteristics appropriate to their roles within the race team, made up of the team leader, road captain, domestiques, and specialist climbers and sprinters. The bikes and equipment, including the riders’ clothing, also have to achieve specific performance requirements. For example, the bikes must be light, stiff and aerodynamic.

Around the riders is the support team, ensuring the riders and equipment are able to operate a the optimum performance throughout the race. During the race, the riders are supported by the team manager, the directeur sportif, mechanics, doctors and soigneurs. Just as important arethe team back at base, including the performance director, the coaching team, the medical team, nutritionists, and the chefs.

To achieve success, every component has to perform at the optimum level and work inharmony with all the other components of the team.

Long before the target event, the team will identify the level of performance required from every component to achieve their goals. They will measure their current performance and establish a programme of improvement actions to achieve their target, and this not only applies to the riders but also to the equipment and support team.

This article appeared in the January 2025 issue of BENCHMARK.