title: Haematological and iron metabolism parameters in professional cyclists during the Giro d'Italia 3-weeks stage race.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Haematological assessment is crucial for evaluating athletes healthy status. Professional athletes experience physiological modifications during competitions and over a season: the risk of sports anaemia is high. Few descriptions of haematological parameters behaviour during a 3-weeks cycling stage race have been published.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied nine professional cyclists engaged in the 2011 Giro d'Italia stage race. Pre-analytical and analytical phases tightly followed academic and anti-doping authorities' recommendations. Haematological and iron metabolism parameters were measured days -1 (pre-race), 12 and 22 during the race.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Haemoglobin, red blood cells and haematocrit decreased during the race with a stabilisation in the second half, but final values were lower than baseline. Reticulocytes did not modify, whilst the immature reticulocyte fraction increased. No differences were found in red blood cells volume and corpuscular haemoglobin content, neither in iron metabolism markers. The acute phase proteins, haptoglobin and C-reactive protein, both increased over the race, while haemoglobin and haptoglobin were inversely related.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data are important for improving the knowledge of physiological modifications in haematological and iron metabolism parameters of professional athletes during highly demanding competitions. This is the first report, in the ambit of a stage race, in which the pre-analytical phase standardisation has been applied.
authors.affiliation: Liquigas Cannondale Medical Board, Sesto al Reghena, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Corsetti
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lombardi
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lanteri
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Colombini
authors.forename: Rosella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Graziani
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Banfi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes; D001642:Bicycling; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D004300:Doping in Sports / Q000517:prevention & control; D006242:Haptoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006403:Hematologic Tests; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D012156:Reticulocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D006242:Haptoglobins; D006454:Hemoglobins; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D007501:Iron