Sports medical examination: sense or nonsense
What is the benefit of a sports medical examination?
Hurrah! You have booked a trip with us or you have been drawn for a Gran Fondo. Your big goal from now on is to perform in, for example, the Maratona dles Dolomites, Strade Bianche or La Marmotte. Your participant package will then require you to submit a sports medical certificate. What does this mean? And what good is it?
What is a sports medical examination?
You go to your doctor, because he/she can declare that you are healthy, right? That is probably the case, but the GP is not allowed to sign a sports medicine certificate, so you have to be examined by a sports doctor. The sports doctor carries out various tests to test the functioning of your heart and lungs. Based on this, the doctor will determine whether your health is sufficient to participate in the Gran Fondo. The validity of this inspection is five years, unless you are 65+, in which case it is one year. The costs are usually around €200 – €300 and a large part of this is often reimbursed by your health insurance.
Also read: Cycling in the mountains: Stacking! Or not?
Just a necessity or useful for you?
The Gran Fondo is often the reason to take a sports medical examination. However, your eyes will be opened during and after the inspection. The inspection tells you a lot about your body and condition. This way you know after the inspection:
● Your overall state of health.
● Your body fat percentage.
● Your estimated threshold heart rate and power, or FTP.
● The point at which you go from fat burning to carbohydrate burning.
● Your training zones based on heart rate and power.
● Your lung capacity, or VO2max.
Also read: Medical Certificate via CYCLOsportive
Targeted training
Based on this information, you will receive advice on what you should pay attention to in training to achieve maximum results. It is not without reason that sports doctors advise you to have an examination once every two years, even if you are in good health. The sooner you do the inspection, the longer you can train specifically based on your specific body characteristics and condition. This way you are optimally at the start of your big goal!
Also read: Training for a Granfondo, how do you do that?
Sports medical examination via CYCLOsportive
To make it easy for you, several sports physicians connected to CYCLOsportive throughout the country. This way we take care of your cycling plans from A to Z!
Check out the full travel offer from CYCLOsportive here: the travel offer 2025
