Pretty awesome that they are sharing information of a top GC rider. Some of those numbers are pretty humbling too, such as 1 minute at 520+ watts ~ 7.65 w/kg 5 minutes at 450+ watts ~ 6.61 w/kg 10 minutes at 430+ watts ~ 6.32 w/kg 30 minutes at 380+ watts ~ 5.59 w/kg
And all that on what is basically the first stage with a decent climb in it. It’s going to be awesome to see what Floyd’s numbers are in next weeks’ stages; so long as he is still contending for a top spot of course.
Most interesting is that these are all new highs for Floyd for this TdF. I think this puts the dropping of all of Discovery’s domestiques into a bit of perspective. They were less than a minute back by the end - anyone watch - could they have closed that after the final climb?
I believe Floyd is sittin’ at about 68kgs and Stadler is around 75kgs?
It was also interesting to note that while Lance was busy saying something to the effect of “We have a few things to talk about tonight with the teams performance…”, Dr. Lim noted it should be expected that Discovery popped since they were driving the pace towards that final climb.
I thought Stadlers watts for Hawaii were posted as 346. Going by the old formula of IM wattage should be ~ 80% of CP60, that gives a CP60 of 432 watts. Assuming Stadler is at least 75 kg, that would put his CP60 w/kg at 5.8 w/kg, which is certainly reasonable. If he is either a bit heavier or he was going at greater than 80% of CP60, both of which are distinct possibilities (especially the latter), it is not at all unreasonable.
Functional threshold for tour winners is pretty much established at 6.7 w/kg (although Lance has won at 6.5). Floyd has WAY more power than he showed today. His power at LT is pretty well established to be over 6.5 w/kg.
I agree - stadlers numbers are quite believable (espcially at 346). While in IM you have to run after the bike - it is steady, and not too much variation in pace (usually). In a tour you have huge variation in pace, and you have to get up and ride (possibly pretty hard) the next day (and the next…).
I’m still thinking Stadler’s numbers weren’t as advertised. The winner at Honu rode it in like 2:20, averaged 304w. He’s as big/heavy as Stadler, not as aero, and rode only half the distance.
the winds at honu were reportedly quite light, while 2004 kona appears to be pretty much the toughest, slowest day on record. the conditions are so variable there, you can’t even begin to make comparisons on different days. looking at how normann destroyed that field, i find the reported power outputs very reasonable.
Functional threshold for tour winners is pretty much established at 6.7 w/kg (although Lance has won at 6.5). Floyd has WAY more power than he showed today. His power at LT is pretty well established to be over 6.5 w/kg.
If that’s the case then I’d wonder why Floyd only held about 6.08 w/kg for just over 20 minutes during the ITT.
He reportedly didn’t use a PowerTap in the ITT so it was estimated. Also, his position might reduce his power output and he may also output more power while climbing.
FWIW, to ride fast (and solo) in Kona with an average position (say mine) would require about 300w coming out of 73kgs of body (6-1 height). So about 4.1w/KG. Sitting in a group (a la stagger rule) you’d probably only require 3.7-3.8w/KG. Not that tough in pure cycling terms – no leg of an elite IM is out of reach in single sport terms, the ‘fun’ is trying to tack them all together.
The big challenge that I see is energy metabolism at 300w power output in tropical conditions (especially if you go 310w for 90K then 290w for 90K). I imagine that all the top finishers over the years are highly efficient cyclists and runners (training that efficiency is an aspect that many new and short course athletes overlook in their own training). Holding ~4 min K pace (not a fast pace for cool weather training) after that kind of effort can be pretty tough, especially if you are a “larger” athlete (none of these guys are that big, it’s all relative).
Also, many choose to have a large positive split in their effort over the bike course, in years where the wind comes up late or when draft marshalling is more lenient – this can make strategic sense. But, only if you are able to process calories. If you torch your glycogen supplies, lock up your back, seize your glutes and/or shut down your digestion pre-Hawi then it’s a false economy. We see that in the large %age of elite DNFs each year.
Mitch A and a few other strong cyclists showed what’s possible with good pacing – the race can often slow considerably in the final third of the bike leg, athletes that pace/train to be strong in this portion can do very well. Raynard Tissink is a guy that probably knows a thing or two about getting the best result from a given level of fitness – highly consistent performance across a number of years.
Faris’ power data from last year is up on the 'net. Worth a look if you are into this stuff.
we talked about this with Olaf. Several people that were watching the race mentioned that the winds tended to be very favorable with Norman.
On one part of the course, Norman went by literally flying around 70km/h, then the Peter Reid group went by and they were going 40-45km/h, then Olaf who was riding with Thomas Hellriegel and I think Markus Foster, they were on the small chainring into a really stiff headwind and barely hitting 20km/h…
Maybe he’s not as fit as in years past and/or maybe he outputs much more wattage when climbing. It is much harder to output max wattage when TT’ing. TT’ing is about balancing wattage with aerodynamics, not maximizing wattage. And you’ll also notice that he lost a fair bit of time to Lance in that first TT, which would also suggest his wattage is down.
http://www.livebiodata.de/
During each stage you can watch the real time speed/power/heart rate of two riders. Takes a minute or two to load and updates every five seconds or so.
True. I’d have to assume most of those guys can put out more power when able to stand now and again and sit more upright. The praying mantis position must be a tradeoff of power v. aero.
…can’t help but wanting to see Lance blow up on Tuesday and lose about 5 minutes to Vino and/or Ullrich. I’d love to see that guy have to race scared and a bit desperate.