Analysis of Thermal Comfort for Cycling Sport: a Case Study for Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games

As well known the meteorological and the environmental parameters (as wind, air temperature, rain, humidity, altitude, location, etc…) affect strongly the sport performance. Considering the recent literature on this topic, it is evident how the evaluation of the thermal comfort in the athletes is a crucial subject that has to be studied. In fact the thermal comfort of the athletes is not only linked with the sport performance but also with the safety of the athletes themselves. For these reasons in this research it is presented an innovative methodology to evaluate the thermal comfort of cycling athletes at the next Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. This analysis is carried out for the Rio de Janeiro area considering the two venues for the cycling sport and for the two disciplines (Time Trial and Road Race). The meteorological data of two stations representative of the racing areas have been collected for a period of 20 years. They have been analyzed to produce the wind roses and to calculate two thermal indices: Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET). The results of this research show the importance of the climatological analysis for optimizing the training and nutrition plans of the athletes.