2.4.1. Maximal Incremental Cycling Test
On day one, patients performed a maximal incremental test on an electromagnetically braked ergometer (Livestrong, LS 5.0 R model, Austin, TX, USA). The test started at 10 W for two minutes, with 10 W increase every minute until voluntary exhaustion or until the patients were unable to maintain 60 revolutions per minute of cadence [