Cav's power

[kgreene10]

Did anyone happen to see Cav's wattage in the sprints? I heard that SRM was posting the numbers but couldn't find them on-line. I would be interested in his peak 10 seconds.

[MattTuck]

Not sure what his numbers are.

I'm not sure that his power is what makes him so much better than everyone else. If you look at his sprinting form, he's just a lot more aerodynamic in how low he is when he sprints.

It may be that he has more power in the sprint as well, but his form certainly has a lot to do with it also.

[false_Aest]

http://www.srm.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=112&Itemid=260&lang=us

"Again it was Mark Cavendish (Team HTC Columbia) showing that he is the best sprinter in this year's Tour de France. The telemetry of his fourth stage win showed a max power of 1,252 watts and a top speed of 64.4 km/h."

[ergott]

http://www.srm.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=112&Itemid=260&lang=us

"Again it was Mark Cavendish (Team HTC Columbia) showing that he is the best sprinter in this year's Tour de France. The telemetry of his fourth stage win showed a max power of 1,252 watts and a top speed of 64.4 km/h."

I wish I could use my 1300W half as good as he uses his 1252W;-)

[rockdude]

What does he weigh Or what is his w/kg at 1252w? I would think that he would product more than that.

[false_Aest]

I think that's about 18 watts/kg.

He weighs around 150 and is 5'9"

I think, however, that's a low number for him. At least, we should remember that he just rode most of the TdF for those numbers.

A little more reading gives me this (from last year)

Renshaw winds up from 583watts to 800.

Renshaw pulls off and lets George go. George takes it to 1029 for over 14 seconds.

George pulls off and legs Cav go with whatever he does . . . with a cadence of about 150rpm.
-----

FWIW, my 14 second best is 847 watts. That's at the end of a "grueling" 30 minute power profile test.

[tsarpepe]

That shot of Cav getting his prize in Paris was something. The two models were standing next to him, on the podiums for 2nd and 3d place, and they were still taller than him! :D

[that guy]

George takes it to 1029 for over 14 seconds.

THAT is impressive. So Mark takes it to 1200+ for 10 seconds? That's nuts.

[davidlee]

I remember reading somewhere that Cav sprints in the neighborhood of 1600 watts and with his super low frontal area, less weight compared to most sprinters and amazing leg speed from a track background, he waxes all comers.
It's crazy how when he jumps at the same time as Ale Jet he grabs 4 or 5 bike lengths almost instantly. Brutal jump!
d

[SEABREEZE]

Use to compete in short track speed skating, when I was in my teens, Cav reminds me of Levy a fellow competitor, who no one could come close to.

Small compact and explosive... Reminds me of Cav

He blew by everyone yesterday like they were standing still.

[rockdude]

I remember reading somewhere that Cav sprints in the neighborhood of 1600 watts and with his super low frontal area, less weight compared to most sprinters and amazing leg speed from a track background, he waxes all comers.
It's crazy how when he jumps at the same time as Ale Jet he grabs 4 or 5 bike lengths almost instantly. Brutal jump!
d

1600w sounds more like it. Heck, Here in Colorado, I know of at least 3 45+ CAT 4 guys weighing less than 158 pound guys that can pump out 1300+ at the end of a race. (I know there has to be a lot more because I only know of a few guys real power) By-the-way, this guys are not winning. Power is not everything to a sprinter, smarts plays a bigger role.

[false_Aest]

I also read 1600 watts but I read that as his "highest" output not his TdF spring numbers.

And as someone said, it's not just watts.

It's leg speed, aerodynamics and most importantly watts/kg.

[Charles M]

Watts per KG is also second... To what happens leading up to the sprint...



I think that's about 18 watts/kg.

He weighs around 150 and is 5'9"

I think, however, that's a low number for him. At least, we should remember that he just rode most of the TdF for those numbers.

A little more reading gives me this (from last year)

Renshaw winds up from 583watts to 800.

Renshaw pulls off and lets George go. George takes it to 1029 for over 14 seconds.

George pulls off and legs Cav go with whatever he does . . . with a cadence of about 150rpm.
-----

FWIW, my 14 second best is 847 watts. That's at the end of a "grueling" 30 minute power profile test.


Having stood next to him, and as I'm 5-8", I can comfortably say Cav's my height at most...

Cav's running betwen 1200 and 1400 and can produce that for 10 - 15 seconds. His peak is 1600+ but his peak isn't important...


Renshaw is last man and in excess of 1000, and steady...

The most telling is that this isn't a one hit "hero" pedal stroke (a couple second peak) for either guy. Not that 1000+ isnt also impressive for guys at the right weight, BUT context is everything.


They're over 1000 for several seconds and can do that after 100 miles of pounding.

And they throw up these numbers having been at 3-500 watts for several minutes leading up to that sustained high number...


Most guys that talk about 1000+ watts that are not earning a handy paycheck are also talking about being able to run up that number having a nice warm up and then banging out a couple seconds.... You let Cav, Pettaci, Thor run a test like that and the primary concerne would be not blowing the bottom off the bike (I'm being serious). Their numbers would also not be track sprinter high, but then they're not built for a max, they're built for a max at end of pro road race... Think finishing kickers in distance running.

A second example would be Marty Nothstein... 2200 watts and could do that for several seconds BUT could not do that after a few hours in the saddle. He was solid on the road, but didn't convert his incredible output to the road and though he did well, he didnt consistently beat the worlds best (though if he would have tried earlier in his career I would guess he would have been a lot better). Again, context is everything...




Anyone on these forums that can produce 1000 watts sustainable for even 10 seconds after riding for 30 minutes at race pace would be winning literally every race they entered (terrain provided) up to Cat 1-2 and likely winning lots of the loacal 1-2's.


I know several guys winning 1-2 that cant do 1000 watts sustained at race end.

[rockdude]

The SMR data says Cav's MAX power was 1253w not his 10s-15s power in stage 18.

"Again it was Mark Cavendish (Team HTC Columbia) showing that he is the best sprinter in this year's Tour de France. The telemetry of his fourth stage win showed a max power of 1,252 watts and a top speed of 64.4 km/h."

[John M]

...Heck, Here in Colorado, I know of at least 3 45+ CAT 4 guys weighing less than 158 pound guys that can pump out 1300+ at the end of a race. ...

I'm with PezTech in this analysis.

Lets see how many watts your cat 4 buddies crank out on day 21 of a three-week stage race after a couple of hours riding as fast as the pro peleton.

Local strongmen may have peak power outputs equal to the pros, but doing it on Thursday night at the end of a local crit compared to the end of a day in a stage race are two wholly different things.

[Charles M]

Context...

Single data point, end of a race, 3rd week of a grand tour.

And that number wasn't an all out peak but a crecsent needed for what might have been the easiest sprint in the last several years... He was looking back several times.

[kgreene10]

Thanks for the great posts.

[geoffm]

+1 on what Manatan said! I weigh 129 lbs and can produce 1,200 watts for 10 seconds after 100km into the wind by myself. Once. I'll bet I couldn't do anything near that after 220km and I guarantee you that I couldn't do that every day for 3 weeks (let alone having half of those days riding straight up.

The abiliy to produce watts like that as a subset of the general population is probably not that unusual (as one poster pointed-out). However, we are talking about a very unique subset of elite, long-distance specialists. Out of that subset of the general population, the ability to produce power like that is very rare indeed.