Efficacy of caffeine as an ergogenic aid in multiple cycling time trials

Introduction: Evidence that caffeine supplementation is effective to improve performance in cycling time trials has been obtained in single rather than multiple time trials. We investigated whether 5 mg.kg^-1 of caffeine enhanced performance in multiple 4 km cycling time trials (TT4km) conducted within the same day and across different days.

Methods: After selection of eligible cyclists and familiarization with the TT4km, thirteen well-trained cyclists participated in a balanced placebo-controlled designed with two caffeine sessions (CAF-1 and CAF-2) and a placebo session. In each session, cyclists performed a baseline TT4km before caffeine, and two supplemented TT4km (50 min and 80 min after supplementation). Relative and absolute reliability were obtained through intraclass coefficient correlation and standard error of the measurement (SEM), respectively. The cyclists' performance responses to caffeine were classified as beneficial, unchanged, and adverse by calculating the change between caffeine and placebo relative to SEM.

Results: Caffeine enhanced performance in the first supplemented TT4km in CAF-1 and CAF-2 (0.5% and 1.8%, respectively), although only CAF-2 was significantly different from placebo (p < 0.001). Analysis with grouped data showed good absolute and relative reliability of caffeine effects within and across days. However, analysis of individual data showed that 38% and 31% of the cyclists changed their classification of responsiveness to caffeine between the supplemented trials across days.

Conclusions: Despite the good reliability of caffeine to enhance performance in a single TT4km performed within and across days, individual analysis challenged the use of caffeine supplementation protocols based on grouped data.