# This is boggling my mind! Spoiler alert!!!



## respro100 (Jul 15, 2014)

34 miles covered in the first hour of racing today. On a steady incline to boot. I know they're drafting but man!
What kind of wattage are the riders at the front generating? Now I don't think I need to get a power meter for the devastating embarrassment to come.


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## CBus660R (Sep 9, 2011)

Their wattage isn't probably quite what you think (I'm talking total wattage, not watts/kg). They don't carry any extra weight at all. Ever notice how they look anorexic with their jerseys off? Not an extra ounce of fat or upper body muscle on these guys to carry around. The smaller body is also much more aero


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## PBL450 (Apr 12, 2014)

respro100 said:


> 34 miles covered in the first hour of racing today. On a steady incline to boot. I know they're drafting but man!
> What kind of wattage are the riders at the front generating? Now I don't think I need to get a power meter for the devastating embarrassment to come.


I think they had a tailwind?


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## Corsaire (Jun 2, 2006)

Nibali was doing 20 to 22mph when he attacked on the last hill before dropping into Gap. This piece of data was posted on the TV broadcast yesterday.
Do anybody know the grade on the last kms of that hill?


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## ibericb (Oct 28, 2014)

Corsaire said:


> Nibali was doing 20 to 22mph when he attacked on the last hill before dropping into Gap. This piece of data was posted on the TV broadcast yesterday.
> Do anybody know the grade on the last kms of that hill?


Col de Manse ? As noted by the tour this year, 8.9 kilometre-long climb at 5.6% - category 2 (see here). But it's not a straight 5.6%. I believe this is the profile for this year's route up and over.


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

respro100 said:


> 34 miles covered in the first hour of racing today. On a steady incline to boot. I know they're drafting but man!
> What kind of wattage are the riders at the front generating? Now I don't think I need to get a power meter for the devastating embarrassment to come.


https://www.strava.com/activities/350219704

Complete with power data (real not computed). Seems like 30mph for the first hour where he averaged 246 watts (raw, not NP). Was he in the groupetto or the break? I didn't watch the most of the stage.



Corsaire said:


> Nibali was doing 20 to 22mph when he attacked on the last hill before dropping into Gap. This piece of data was posted on the TV broadcast yesterday.
> Do anybody know the grade on the last kms of that hill?


I think it was 5-6%. Not unreasonable for a pro athlete for an attack that lasts 30s-1 minute.


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## BacDoc (Aug 1, 2011)

J


deviousalex said:


> https://www.strava.com/activities/3...r efforts and we were not going those speeds.


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

BacDoc said:


> The strava segment for Col de Manse lists the distance as 5.4mi. Kwiotkowski is 8th on leader board for this TDF 2015, and has his heart rate at 133 and 243 watts average.
> 
> I too am confused, as a fit 60 yo rider I max out at 172 bpm heart rate but climbing that grade for 5.4miles I'm sure I would be in the upper 150's bpm going slower.
> 
> Isn't a young fit rider supposed to get higher bpm for that distance? 133 seems way low for #8 on leader board for young rider. I remember in my late 30's riding Bay Area climbs of similar grade and pushing 170's and my younger buddy late 20's holding 180-190 for similar efforts and we were not going those speeds.


Why are you assuming he was pushing it on that climb at all? At 246 watts he clearly was just riding a tempo to finish within the time cut.


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## BacDoc (Aug 1, 2011)

deviousalex said:


> Why are you assuming he was pushing it on that climb at all? At 246 watts he clearly was just riding a tempo to finish within the time cut.


Assuming he was pushing it because his ride was #8 on leader board. He's 17th all time leader board. Don't think even a pro can soft peddle and be in top 10 on popular segment. Maybe I'm wrong?


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## ibericb (Oct 28, 2014)

BacDoc said:


> Assuming he was pushing it because his ride was #8 on leader board. He's 17th all time leader board. Don't think even a pro can soft peddle and be in top 10 on popular segment. Maybe I'm wrong?


FYI - in stage 10 Kwiatkoswski finished in 159th position (out of 183), at 23' 21" behind Froome. At the end of the stage he stood in 58th position overall.


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## bruin11 (May 21, 2004)

BacDoc said:


> Assuming he was pushing it because his ride was #8 on leader board. He's 17th all time leader board. Don't think even a pro can soft peddle and be in top 10 on popular segment. Maybe I'm wrong?


I don't think riding tempo means soft pedaling. They still need to come in under the time limit.


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

BacDoc said:


> Assuming he was pushing it because his ride was #8 on leader board. He's 17th all time leader board. Don't think even a pro can soft peddle and be in top 10 on popular segment. Maybe I'm wrong?


That's because Strava is buggy and not the end-all-be-all of cycling. The segment was created right after the stage and before Michal uploaded his ride. As Strava then finds other rides that previously matched the segment the leaderboard starts to change. As I'm writing this post if you look at the actual leaderboard page ( https://www.strava.com/segments/9810104?filter=overall ) he's 17th. I bet as more and more rides that match this segment are filtered into the leaderboard he will go down and down. Does someone put a "TDF2015" in a Segment and expect only people that rode the segment in the tour to actually match or something?


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