If you didn't watch the latest Time Trial from the Tour of California, Solvang CA on 2/20/09, you missed one of the most exciting Time Trials I've seen in quite some time. Gustav Larsson, of Sweden, was leading the Time Trial with just a few racers to go: Armstrong, Rogers, Zabriskie and Leipheimer. First, Dave Zabriskie bested his time. Then, the yellow jersey leader, Levi Leipheimer, the last man out of the chute..not only beat Gustav Larsson's time but beat Dave Zabriskie's as well. Levi retains the yellow jersey with just two stages left in the Tour of Cali. That was an AWESOME Time Trial that Levi ran..not to mention the pressure that was on him to do well.
Here is Gustav's power file from the Time Trial. Gustav averaged 486 watts over the 30 minute Time Trial. That's incredible. His Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is somewhere in the neighborhood of 475 ish watts, with nearly a 6w/kg power to weight ratio. (Gustav weighs 80kg). That is WORLD CLASS POWER cycling fans.
I think what is interesting to note was that Gustav was nearly averaging close to his threshold on the downhill portion. Check out the elevation profile in orange..and then look at his corresponding power profile in yellow. Do you know how hard that is to do? Try it sometime when you're out riding..maintaining your FTP on a downhill. What is also interesting to note is how he maxed his Heart Rate out at the top of every ascent.
Good stuff! Cheers Rob
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