MvdP powerdata last 800 meters of the Amstel Gold Race

Nice summary here: Power analysis: Mathieu van der Poel's insane Amstel Gold - CyclingTips

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He did great. But donā€™t forget that this was all possible because of idiotic racing in the front. Itā€™s as much a choke job as it is a heroic effort.

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and another: Mathieu van der Poel shares incredible data from Amstel Gold Race on Strava | Cycling Weekly

Exactly. I can live at 100-115 all dayā€¦ However, I can guarantee you Iā€™m not going 36-41 MPH. :flushed:

Absolutely unreal numbers, and I loved the cyclingtips link above. Iā€™m struck by something that the specialized guys said in their recent podcast: ā€œpros are never kilojoule-constrainedā€. He (Chris Yu? or one of the specialized guys) was justifying the use of a lightweight bike because the advantage in the decisive climb matters way more than saving energy early on with an aero bike. (I know MVPD was on the aeroad, thatā€™s neither here nor there for my point).

Point is, I donā€™t think I really understood the implications of that until this analysis - MVDP was able to do insane maximal efforts after 6 hours of not-that-chill riding. Said another way, the strain of going at a moderate pace for hours in the early goings of a race basically doesnā€™t have an effect on pros. Having that kind of aerobic fitness and muscular endurance is mind boggling.

But did get there with Polarized or Non-polarized training? That is the Crux. :slightly_smiling_face:

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There isnā€™t a spike that last 8k either. Everyone keeps talking about how he bridged then sprinted but I think he just rode steady - picked it up one notch and that was that.

Considering CX is 99% Z5, but only 1hr longā€¦Iā€™d say Polarized.

Itā€™s the newest training fad, itā€™s 20:80!

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Ha! Thatā€™s funnyā€¦only because itā€™ll probably pop up sooner or later. :man_facepalming:

What astounds me the most when I look at this data is the 2nd 30mins of the race. His heart rate is in the 80s and 90s! Itā€™s like he is laying on the couch. In fact, a sub-100 heart rate is achieved quite often in the first 2 thirds of the raceā€¦is that common?

Common, esp for a young, generically gifted athlete whoā€™s conserving energy by sucking wheels. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

The idiotic racing in the front let MVDP back into the game, but he still had to do those numbers all by himself, no other racers ā€œmade him doā€ those numbers, he did themā€¦ that is what is so impressive.

I agree. His ride was total badass.
Iā€™m just saying that if Fuglsang and Alaphilippe hadnā€™t taken their foot off the gas, nobody would care or talk about the power profile of the 4th place guy.

Which makes me wonder how many badass profiles weā€™ve never seen. Someone who pulls a GC contender to the last 10k in the front and bonks for example. I bet there are a lot of them. I would love to see Froomeā€™s power file from stage 17 of the Giro from last year.

Iā€™d be willing to bet there are a lot of domestiques with really amazing race power files that we never, ever see.

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That number is meaningless in a vacuum. Some people have a maxHR of 150 and they are in threshold at 130. I know a couple people like that. I bet his max is on the low side.

His max HR in this effort was 197.

:flushed:

GCNā€™s J.Travolta hit 200 doing Alpe du Zwift.

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If you read the article, he sat in the peloton for a good portion there so was probably close to his z1 power under 200 wattsā€¦