Pretty intersting stuff…
When I read 88.5kg race weight I feel a bit better about myself… If only I could push 1900W 
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I see he raced around 90kg. Just need to drop 7kg, add 170W to my FTP, find 700W on that 3-sec power, and travel back in time 26+ years 
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I’m honestly surprised that he only cranked out ~1900w at 3s. I’d love to see his full power curve.
His overall numbers are surprisingly low
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I imagine that’s the effect of sitting in the draft all day and never really competing for the top spot outside of a handful of days
Thanks for sharing that. I was very surprised at the relatively low FTP and W/kg (for a WT rider…) I was certainly expecting much higher numbers than those.
I wonder how the 3 sec power compare to other current and past WT sprinters.
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This is really interesting to see and I wish more riders (or ex riders) would share their info. Not just the winners, but the teammates too, because there is an understandable obsession with W/kg amongst riders but you can be one of the worlds most successful riders at 4.9.
I’d heard in the past he was 82kg and 410W FTP but the numbers in the article make more sense.
Can’t believe how tough it must be racing up mountains day after day at the Tour carrying 90kg. Kudos to Kittel for that and sharing his data.
As a tall rider I sometimes feel like I’m surrounded by 5+W/kg riders and can get lured into that thinking but taking Kittel’s approach of maximising race winning power is definitely something I’m going to try and follow. Just need to find that 1900w…
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“Gorilla” is usually reserved for the other German sprinter, André Greipel 
He uploads everything to Strava, his last two weeks for example:
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It’s interesting how specialised cycling has become. Anyone remember Laurent Jalabert, who was one of the top sprinters. Then he had one crash too many and just decided to become one of the best climbers instead lol.
It seems, based on the attached articles, that it`s not the 3s max power that is the most important, but instead for how long you can keep your power above, say, 1000W. The top sprinters are all close to 20s. And that after racing for 5-6h.
Not low as a combination of FTP + sprint power.
438w is a huge FTP, especially for a World Tour sprinter. I think that’s what’s most impressive.
In his prime, his muscle fiber composition must have been in perfect balance. He retired early, maybe because this balance was thrown off. It doesn’t take much for a rider to lose his competitive edge in the TdF.
