mcewen

brungus said:

anyone have any information/guesses as to what kind of watts mcewan is pushing? i raced 3s this past season (2 now) and my coach and i have been impressed with my sprint (65kg, max: 1516, 5s: 1403, 10s: 1320) and ive been winning because of my positioning and jump. if i can do that, mcewan must be a freak, to be able to go head to head with guys like boonen/petacchi who are half a foot taller and 40lbs heavier.

These guys sprint powers aren't extra ordinary, not much more than your peak although they could probably hold the higher power for a bit longer than you. What's amazing is they do this after a hard 200+ km stage, survive the mad last few kms and a couple of weeks back to back racing.

Alex Simmons said:

These guys sprint powers aren't extra ordinary, not much more than your peak although they could probably hold the higher power for a bit longer than you. What's amazing is they do this after a hard 200+ km stage, survive the mad last few kms and a couple of weeks back to back racing.

Is it correct to say that these riders usually do not hit the same max sprint wattage they tested at (when they warmed up for an hour then did the max test) versus after a racing a 200+km day? Or do they hit roughly the same max wattage whether they rode for an hour or rode for 5+?

jeff828 said:

Is it correct to say that these riders usually do not hit the same max sprint wattage they tested at (when they warmed up for an hour then did the max test) versus after a racing a 200+km day? Or do they hit roughly the same max wattage whether they rode for an hour or rode for 5+?

Well being fresh is really important for all out sprint efforts if you want to set abosolute maximum wattage, so I'd say so but I don't have sample data from such a rider to support this. The OP would have a 5sec W/kg better than Boonen (which is I think about 20-21W/kg). But I bet Tom's aerobic engine is on another level....

For the OP - your numbers look promising, keep at it and see how far you can go! Nice to see someone who is keen on sprinting 🙂

I think Robbie does well for a variety of reasons. Obviously he's physically gifted with excellent NM abilities, plus, one can't discount the fact the he is a really combative bloke and goes for it. Some might say he is too aggressive, but that's a matter of opinion.

One thing about him that I see, is that mcewen can win even without a great leadout. Whereas Boonen virtually has the entire QS team riding for him, since they have no real GC guys in the tour - at least last year. Petacchi is very fast, but I don't think he's made of the same stuff as the other two.

Alex Simmons said:

Well being fresh is really important for all out sprint efforts if you want to set abosolute maximum wattage, so I'd say so but I don't have sample data from such a rider to support this. The OP would have a 5sec W/kg better than Boonen (which is I think about 20-21W/kg). But I bet Tom's aerobic engine is on another level....

Totally agree with Alex. Boonen is winning so many races because he can just motor for hours and hours in the toughest conditions. You bet he's got it aerobically, and mentally too, being that we are talking the most challenging classics which, he has won!

Lucy_Aspenwind said:

Totally agree with Alex. Boonen is winning so many races because he can just motor for hours and hours in the toughest conditions. You bet he's got it aerobically, and mentally too, being that we are talking the most challenging classics which, he has won!

Big Tom's numbers from last winter (http://www.roadcycling.com/news/printer1401.shtml):

Boonen is also subjected to a maximal power test, identical to that carried out by other riders at the University. "We give all our riders the same test," said Hespel. "They start to pedal at 100 Watts, which is easy for them. Every eight minutes, it increases by 40 Watts. Tom can do it up to 460 Watts after an hour and a half. That means that he has ridden for eight minutes at 420 Watts before that, and eight minutes at 380 Watts before that. You should try that one time on your home trainer. We've never seen that here. Museeuw was a fantastic athlete, but on a pure physical level, Tom is a bigger talent."

My sprint power isn't much more than that! :eek:

meandmybike said:

Big Tom's numbers from last winter (roadcycling.comprinter1401.shtmlOpen ↗):

Boonen is also subjected to a maximal power test, identical to that carried out by other riders at the University. "We give all our riders the same test," said Hespel. "They start to pedal at 100 Watts, which is easy for them. Every eight minutes, it increases by 40 Watts. Tom can do it up to 460 Watts after an hour and a half. That means that he has ridden for eight minutes at 420 Watts before that, and eight minutes at 380 Watts before that. You should try that one time on your home trainer. We've never seen that here. Museeuw was a fantastic athlete, but on a pure physical level, Tom is a bigger talent."

My sprint power isn't much more than that! :eek:

A question that I never saw the answer to was whether or not Tom merely made it to the 460w level or actually completed all 8 minutes of it and failed at the 500w level. The statement seems like psychological warfare anyhow, seeing how somebody like Indurain, an example I use because they were the same weight, pushed about 500 watts for an hour. It seems like a way of making a lot of people think they can beat Tom, when in reality they can't.