How would you guys describe a “talent” in endurance sport? Because in cycling you just basically just pedal for hours and you don’t really need “skills” (im comparing cycling to sports where you need more skills). Is it how you respond to training? Like any training? Is it vo2max? Peter Sagan’s vo2max vs Pogacar? Pogacar is 22 this year and dude just smashed the time trial and won tour de france. Also record time on that climb… during tt… on second last stage…
The latest TR podcast w BJM offered a great take on the effects of taking on a bit of muscle and the wattage gain; he gained 15 lbs but went from 365 to 425W @ FTP. Cray
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I could do with doing that!!
Suppose that if you can put on almost pure lean mass it’s gonna result in some serious gains
Yeah. Think we all would like a helping of that.
On the occasion of current events I re-post the following from early this year:
Had another look at his year, he became more selective with posting data. However, what is really striking that he is a true disciple of San Millan who is a “ride a lot at or slightly above AeT”. Not ride a lot LIT or so (like we heard from Sunweb).
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That looks way the hell over AeT
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So what sort of IF is he doing on an “endurance ride”?
Non-pro detour:
I was snooping my own power files and 2 years ago I had much better w/kg (e.g. Cat.2) than today, but that was due wholly to less weight not more power. With no racing this year there’s been no intense focus on weight reduction, just power production.
Unless you’re doing very long (steep) climbs, the focus should be on power first and foremost.
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100% agree!! Build the engine before refining it
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My inside line on this is they only use it at training camps, and don’t train and test by it.
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W/kg is obviously a very important metric for grand tour riders, but what is the optimal body composition for that equation? Too light and you can never compete on flat TTs. Too heavy and your power numbers have to be massive. WVA is at the heavy end of the equation(he’s definitely not 78kgs). The question is whether he can repeat his W/kg over 3 weeks in the mountains. I saw him say he doesn’t want to change his body comp anymore and damage his chances of competng at the classics.
Interview with San Millan.
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A little light on detail, but 415W 60 min power is impressive, although in the ballpark for GC contenders. I am curious to know what markers he’s looking at to understand recovery ability.
I had not heard of this Juan Ayuso kid, but if UAE thought it was worth signing him for 5 years, he’s worth keeping an eye on.
In winter hè was 80kg an probably end of the tour around 76kg.
Kämna’s prep would be the death of me.
His recovery days looks fairly doable 
But honestly his FTP is quite low as a rider of this calibre? Around 341W according to strava and his workouts and that puts him around 5.2 W/kg.
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Strava zones may not always been set up correctly.
Here Kämna’s final ~hour of his stage win day. This is after 3.5h of racing. And with some descending:
54.5 min, 357 W, ~5.4 W/kg
The time trial on Saturday took him 1h. With an average power output of 368W (~ 5.6W/kg). However, we don’t know if he went all out or if he held back. Looks a little bit like he went for the mountain points only, the flat section was signifcantly less intense (361 vs 393W).
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