What say ye? 1800 watts sounds like a lot to me. Is that the going rate here on slowtwitch? 
I am sure he has done better than that before but I do not see him in the future as a sprinter. He will be the man to beat in the TTs very soon.
He has great parents, coaches and a very good team. He has a very bright future ahead. I wish him the best of lucks!
Sergio
That’s a lot of Watts but for a phenom with about the best possible genetics a person could have gotten, 1800 max W isn’t shocking.
BUT, we would all probably piss our pants if we knew his FTP
I’ve turned 1730’s max multiple times but beyond 2-5 seconds at that power I’m hosed. He stated that its a max power which makes me believe that it was only a momentary spike and not something he held for a prolonged period (10+ seconds), not to say that I think he can or can’t.
… at the end of a 4.5 hour ride @ altitude.
I’m not the resident physiologist, but my understanding is that it really doesn’t matter. Max power spikes are (once again, from my understanding) reliant upon neuromuscular power generation which probably wasn’t called upon until the final sprint.
For what it’s worth, my highest peaks like that have all been at the end of rides that were 2+ hours. I’m not a great cyclist or anything, but used to be quite into powerlifting, so my momentary explosive power is very very high. Once that power is gone, I more or less have nothing. My FTP is only 300-310.
There really just isn’t enough information to tell from one blurb on twitter. I do know that pure sprinters, like a Chris Hoy can put out numbers like Phinney posted and hold them for relatively extreme amounts of time.
Chris Hoy (wiped the floor in sprinting events at the Olympics) said that the highest he ever achieved was around 2100watts.
Wow, he must be like 75% slow twitch and 75% fast twitch.
All-twitch, per Allen Lim. T’s peak power does exceed 2K…without much sprint specific training, yet. He also rolled a sub-minute 7-lap (nearly 1km) effort at Boulder’s new indoor velodrome today for fun. See www.boulderindoorcycling.com for info about the track. Fun stuff…but not a place for serious racing, though. Neal
One of the stories on the BBC website has a sound clip of him saying just over 2300w, and that’s after the Olympics so no sand bagging 
Xav
.
That’s Sir Chris now, as he was recently knighted by the Queen !
What say ye? 1800 watts sounds like a lot to me. Is that the going rate here on slowtwitch?
http://twitter.com/taylorphinney
Doesn’t suprise me at all. Having tried to sit on his wheel for a team pursuit, I was near maximum effort (1640) at the start and had the benefit of his draft.
He’s a human engine.
-SD
What say ye? 1800 watts sounds like a lot to me. Is that the going rate here on slowtwitch?
http://twitter.com/taylorphinney
Doesn’t suprise me at all. Having tried to sit on his wheel for a team pursuit, I was near maximum effort (1640) at the start and had the benefit of his draft.
He’s a human engine.
-SD
Dave… If you do not mind answering this, How exactly did you (and Taylor) warmed up to start that TP as a % of your FTP (minutes, levels, time before the start, etc.)? Sergio will race his first pursuit race of the year next Friday and I am pretty sure he has never warmed up properly for a pursuit race or a TT in his short life :).
Thanks beforehand,
Sergio
Great. About as much as a non-commercial hair dryer.
Great. About as much as a non-commercial hair dryer.
Or 2.4 horse power. A 2300 W sprint is 3.1 HP.
Sergio
Dave… If you do not mind answering this, How exactly did you (and Taylor) warmed up to start that TP as a % of your FTP (minutes, levels, time before the start, etc.)? Sergio will race his first pursuit race of the year next Friday and I am pretty sure he has never warmed up properly for a pursuit race or a TT in his short life :).
Thanks beforehand,
Sergio
I can’t speak for Taylor, I suppose Neal probably could.
I don’t have a coach, and I never had a dedicated routine other than to pay attention to my body and my legs. For Nats, I did 40 minutes on the rollers to loosen up the legs, and two rolling 1.5km efforts at race pace. That’s about it. I seem to recall Boardman having a ridiculously short warm up routine. Something like 15-20 minutes for such events as the Tour Prologue and the Track World Championships. I assume he’s doing 3km, that’s not such a good event for me because my start is so weak and I can never get close to 3.5-4.5 second start diffs, but even at 3km he’s going to need to keep his effort under control after the first 6 pedal strokes. If he hits it too hard, he’ll fade. If he’s too conservative he can always drain the tank the last two laps.
Wish him luck for me and report back!
-SD
Thanks Dave. That was a very illustrative answer.
He is still 15 (16 next month) so his distance is still 2 km for 2009.
This first race is not that important and his coach has not given them much time at the track. Actualy he will hit the track without a single gate start since last May, but it will be very interesting to see what 5 months of formal coaching can do.
He definitely looks stronger than last year. It is very interesting to see a son grow as a cyclist. I took the photo below this week to check out the position of a new Garmin computer and until then I realized that his legs have gotten bigger in the last 5 months.
What gearing were you using in that TP with T?
I will remind Jr. to drain the tank in the last two laps and not in the first two. 
Thanks and best wishes,
Sergio
This is him in April 2006. Quite a difference, it seems. At least a few more watts
Thanks Dave. That was a very illustrative answer.
He is still 15 (16 next month) so his distance is still 2 km for 2009.
This first race is not that important and his coach has not given them much time at the track. Actualy he will hit the track without a single gate start since last May, but it will be very interesting to see what 5 months of formal coaching can do.
He definitely looks stronger than last year. It is very interesting to see a son grow as a cyclist. I took the photo below this week to check out the position of a new Garmin computer and until then I realized that his legs have gotten bigger in the last 5 months.
What gearing were you using in that TP with T?
I will remind Jr. to drain the tank in the last two laps and not in the first two.
Thanks and best wishes,
Sergio
This is him in April 2006. Quite a difference, it seems. At least a few more watts
That’s impressive for a 16y/o, if he’s going to take this seriously, have him avoid as much bulk as possible!
If he’s only doing 2km, the start becomes even more critical, and the specialists that I’ve seen at the Master’s level are more like Kilo riders that pursuit riders. Even Taylor posted a so-so opening 500m on his 1km National Championship, it was his last 500m that was near world-best.
Don’t gear too big (I think you are restricted to 47t x 15t, right?) as you won’t lose the top end for such a short distance, there won’t be much time to float the middle laps.
I used a 48t x 15x to win our Master’s District Championships in the kilo knowing I had more events to do and I’d rather be against the rev limiter than reallly tear up my legs. For the team pursuit at Nationals, it was an all or nothing opportunity, and even though I had scratch race heats later that night, I rode a 55t x 15t. All things considdered, my speed was similar in the two events ignoring the first lap, but no way I could ride the 48t x 15t for more than 1000m at 55kph.
His position looks good, be sure he’s got lots of practice with smooth transitions form standing to sitting and from the cownhorns to the aerobars. Don’t sit down fast, slowing lower the body to the saddle, and don’t grab the aerobars into, or in the turns.
Good Luck!
-SD
Good advice from SD. At Masters, women race the 2k so I raced about 4 of them this year. I like a long warm up, starting super easy and building through about 45 minutes then ending up with 3 or 4 max 100 meter efforts. Then spin easy just to keep the legs moving until race time.
On our track, the 2K is just over 6 laps, so the first lap you want to start out and settle in and then try to float laps 2 and 3. Lap 4 will be hard, then you get to 5 and you know you only have 2 to go so try to pick it up. Definitely don’t go out too hard. And a standing start is something that takes practice. Push forward, not down.
Good luck to Sergio Jr!
clm
In Reply To
That’s impressive for a 16y/o, if he’s going to take this seriously, have him avoid as much bulk as possible!
Dave, His legs were probably swollen as a result of following for a week Brian Vandborg from Liquigas around the mountains at low cadence
I am almost sure he will not have a bulk problem in the future, but he does looks bulkier in the legs, just from lifting weights for two or three
months. He was a bit surprised to see how “thin” Brian was, but I told him that I thought that he should keep some extra mass and
fat until he finishes growing.
You can see from the photo below, that Sergio’s legs are similar to Brian’s despite him being a couple of inches shorter. Brain finished 4th at
the 2006 World Championship TT race and he has been TT Nat. Champ. in Denmark three times. I guess he is not light for cyclists standards,
and there is no doubt he has a lot of power, but after seeing how light Brian was, I just can not imagine how Rassmusen looks in person.
Thanks for the tips Dave and Cathy. I will print them for Sergio to read tomorrow on the plane.
Best wishes to all,
Sergio
