Sunday, February 15, 2009

Tour of California Prologue Power


My friends at Training Peaks posted this information from yesterday's Tour of California Prologue: The data is from Gustav Larsson, Team Saxo Bank. (Hmmm, wonder why they didn't post the WINNERS, and fellow teammate, power data...world champ time trialer Fabian Cancellara? I'd love to see his data. Regardless, you get an idea of the Power required to compete on this level. If you compute Gustav's power to weight ratio, you'll see that his Power to Weight Ratio for this 5 minute effort was 6.6 w/kg. That isn't exactly a world class effort but it is a domestic pro effort. I'm guessing short flat Time Trials aren't one of Gustav's specialities. Still, 38th place, and 12 seconds out of the lead is NOT too shabby...when you consider that the Tour of California field is probably one of the strongest in the world. And, if you look at the Power Profile, or better yet watched the Prologue (TT) on TV you'll have seen that this Time Trial was a bit technical with sharp turns where riders had to coast into and or slow down to navigate safely . Regardless, great data to take a look at.

2009 Tour of California - Prologue - Gustav Larsson, Team Saxo Bank
Starting Line: Capitol Mall at 9th St.
Finish Line: L St. at 11th St.Day: Sat, Feb 14Start & Finish: SacramentoMiles: 2.4 KM: 3.9

Results: 1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), Team Saxo Bank, 4:32.9092. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana, at 00:01.2043. David Zabriskie (USA), Garmin, at 00:02.64838 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Team Saxo Bank 0.12.6
Gustav Larsson's Summary Data:
Time 4:45
Average watts 529w
Body Weight 80kg

TrainingPeaks member Fabian Cancellara won the opening prologue of the Tour of California for Team Saxo Bank. His teammate Gustav Larsson placed 38th with a time of 4:45 after having averaged 529w.
As you can see within the file viewer post activity comments, Team Saxo Bank's Rider Development Manager Bobby Julich describes Gustav's as being satisfied with his result. However he was a bit tired perhaps from the team's recent training camp in Agoura Hills, CA. Bobby added, "Gustav said that he had a good warmup. A flat time trial like this is not his specialty."

Julich continued to point out that "This being his first race of the season, he is not dissappointed because there could be so many factors for his time. There were many riders who have peaked and tapered for this event and he did not. I think that he has the power to do a good race here and we will see in the days to come how he feels."

No comments:

Post a Comment