Pro cyclist Lieselot Decroix leads chair at VUB

Lieselot Decroix, pro cyclist on the women’s Lotto Belisol team and a biomedical scientist, will head a new chair at the Free University of Brussels (VUB). The Lotto Science Chair will focus on the recuperation of cyclists and the influence of exertion on the brain. The chair will also serve as scientific support for the team.

The National Lottery will award €45,000 a year to the chair, which will work to reduce the gap between scientific information and sports practice. “The research on the limits of fatigue is important for top sport, but also for movement in general,” VUB exercise physiology professor Romain Meeusen told De Morgen.

The research will focus on improving cyclists’ recovery from injury via nutritional intervention and on the effects of exertion on brain functioning. Decroix (pictured) is hoping to address questions such as if collisions in the peloton lead to decreased concentration at the end of the race.

photo by Tim De Waele/TDWsport.com/Corbis