Originally Posted by asgelle

First of all world class pros do not exert upward force on the rising pedal, https://www.researchgate.net/publica...ng_performance

Second, such an obvious moving of the goalposts fools no one. The issue you raised was energy needed to raise the upward moving leg in the pedal stroke. Other than a slight imbalance between the two legs, whatever force is needed to raise one leg is provided by the weight of the other.