The power puzzle: What it takes to be in front
Author: Adrie van Diemen | Sports Physiologist MSc8 May
Review of Dan Martin’s Trophée de Grimpeur power performance
Last Sunday, Dan Martin raced the Trophée des Grimpeurs, a one-day race over 17 laps for a total distance of 137.3 km. In the figure below you see on the x-axis the time and on the y-axis in yellow the power output (watt), in green the cadence (rpm) and in blue the speed (k/hr). To make each lap more visible, the background alternates between grey and black. This original data is from the PowerTap trainings system mounted on his bike.
The second graph below compares the average power per lap for 1) the climb (Côte de l’Ermitage, 6.2-13% grade) to the finish (blue dots), and the entire lap (pink dots). On the climb in lap 12, the lead group of 8 riders was chased down by a group of 6 which included Dan. To be able to stay there, Dan’s power output went up to 746 watts for the climb. During the next lap, Dan managed to again deliver an impressive 749 watts during the climb which put him in the lead group of 9 riders including Pineau, Voeckler, Fedrigo, Chavanel and David Le Lay.
During this phase in the race, the average power went up from 240 to eventually 305 watts in lap 16, and 301 watts in the next and last laps. On climb 16, eventual race winner David Le Lay managed to drop Dan by only a gap of 10 meters at the top of the climb. In lap 17, Dan chased Le Lay, but the gap slowly got bigger. Just before the finish, Dan was caught by the peloton.
The special note here is that Le Lay managed to drop Dan on the 16th climb where Dan delivered a power output of 600 watts. Though in the four laps before, Dan was able to deliver over 660 watts. So as a result of his increased workload during the previous laps, Dan was more tired, less explosive and just not able to follow.
What do you think about this? Does Dan need better aerobic power so he is less fatigued at the foot of the climb? Or do you think he needs to train more on his anaerobic power? What is your answer? Dan and I know what to do, but please let us know what you think by leaving a comment.
P.S. For your information, Dan’s 749 watts equals 12.1 watts/kg bodyweight and 10.9 watts/kg bodyweight plus bike (Felt and Zipp 202 wheels).
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22 Responses for "The power puzzle: What it takes to be in front"
Wow, what an impressive ride! The information is overwhelming. It looks to me like Dan Martin is a total stud and did everything he possibly could do. I would be completely anaerobic by lap 2 but I’m guessing that Dan was on lap 16. Would more long intervals with efforts over 700 watts give him the victory? More caloric intake from lap 12?
Again, I would be celebrating the ride of my life but you guys are looking for improvement. Absolutely amazing. This IS the greatest team in the world. Congratulations!
sam from Savannah
I know from my (little) data analysis expierence, the more time I spend in the red, the overall duration of my exersion is decreased, so the longer I can stay of of the red, the better off I am. The real question is how does one train to stay out of the red?
My theory, is that his effort for the climbs are anaerobic, however in order to improve, he needs to be able to spend less time working anaerobically, which means he should train aerobically…
I’d love to know what is the right answer.
More burritos!
In the example you gave Dan needs more anaerobic power.
Adrie,
I think you gave away the answer when you said that Dan was tired (less explosive) at the foot of the last climb. From that statement I would infer that Dan needs more aerobic power so he is less fatigued at the bottom of the climb.
But I am in awe of what you can see now days and what Dan can do right now. I trained in sports (many years ago) where you were lucky to have a drink at half in 90 degree heat after playing 40 minutes of a game.
Did Dan get ridden off the wheel? or was he jumped? regardless of that answer, sounds like he was losing power for the length of the climb, so I say more aerobic power so that he is less fatigued.
It’s very cool that you guys connect to cycling fans through all this fancy new technology. The twitter feed especially.
keep it up.
Given his ripe old age of 22, I think he problably needs to keep doing what he already is. Sometimes it is just a question of maturity (physically). As he gets older he wil no doubt, get stronger. The above might be kind of old school in thought. But sometimes you just have to put in your time to get better.
On occasion, I eat wattage for breakfast.
I just think he needs to pedal sooooo fast, soooo quickly, and he has a good shot! What say you Adrie?!
I love this–please do more just like it! An amateur power junkie like me can’t get enough of it.
Conventional training wisdom suggests that Dan needs more aerobic power to sustain his efforts after lap 12. Both his apparent aerobic and anaerobic w/kg are enough to put me in awe–the high-end sustained power over a 6.3 km climb is truly impressive. (The average lap power, which suggests a more pedestrian aerobic power output, is misleading.)
Dan could chase and catch the lead group and repeat peak aerobic power at that level, but couldn’t sustain it. Conventional training wisdom would suggest that Dan’s anaerobic systems are only significant contributors in shorter efforts of approximately 5 minutes or less. But the decay in his top-end efforts is evident over much longer periods of time, leading to fatigue from the sustained efforts by the final laps.
Coming from someone who would gladly take half of Dan’s current aerobic capacity, I conclude that Dan should continue to build that ol’ aerobic engine. Good luck, Dan (and Adrie, please let us know your conclusions)!
I think Dan should understand his limits more and stick with the peloton a bit longer.
If he can bang it hard for 10 laps, then he should pick the right 10 laps.
I suspect he is great shape already and bringing his aerobic up will only stunt his anaerobic work.
Super stuff, Dan! I may even understand it all one day! Great picture too, loads of watts to the back wheel there! Take care.
So 136-pound Dan Martin was able to put out an average of 750 watts for 6.2km? Twice??? Either I’m confused about the distance, or he is WAY stronger than I thought.
Hello Kennett,
Apologies for the typo that you caught in your assessment. The climb is actually 1 km long with a grade that varies from 6.2-13%, making the average grade 7.4%. The killer part of the climb is in the last 330 meters which is more than 13% grade.
More guacamole on his burritos. Switch to black beans from pinto too.
It’s hard to tell how long Dan is in a vo2 plus state during the climb. But given how short the climb is, and the 20+ kph, they must be hammering up this climb. If Dan was barely dipping into a vo2 range, on every lap, bumping his aerobic power.. increasing FTP so he doesn’t have to go into vo2 range would be the way to go. BUT this doesn’t look to be the case, if he is indeed anaerobic.. then I would think anaerobic work would be best for this particular scenario. Probably something very similar to the actual race conditions.
Hill intervals, 6-8 of them at 600+ watts, for ~1km, with 5 minute rest.
ahhhh. That actually sounds possible. I thought for a second that you guys might be exaggerating just a bit, considering it would not even be plausible for Lance Armstrong to get anywhere close to those kind of numbers.
On a second look, I still don’t believe those numbers. 12.1 watts/kg for a 1KM climb? The world record is 11.5 watts/kg for just 1 minute.
I think some 5-minute hill repeats at LT and just above will help both move that lactate curve to the right and increase aerobic power. Great to see just what is necessary to play with the big boys!!
Hi all! Thanks for your responses on this item. Here’s some more information and answers to the comments so far.
*The average power on the climb is calculated over the last 240 meter of the climb to the finish line.
*In road cycling you should never look at the aerobic and the anaerobic power as independent of each other.
*What you saw with this was that Dan had to do increasingly more work from lap 13 because the other guys in the lead group kept attacking and he had to follow.
*Because of the increasing workload during the last laps, the anaerobic system is partly depleted before he starts the climb. That is in my opinion the main reason he less power available during the climb.
Your answers
1. @ Sam Weaver.: Dan was able to eat and drink properly.
2. @ Doug: You are right but not during this race.
3. @ Cary: You are right. See above.
4. @ Joe Christian: That’s what we have decided to do.
5. @ Matt: Matt makes an inside joke. Soooo nice.
6. @ Dan’s Dad: Quality work done years ago. Thanks for that.
Really interesting. This article has attracted more comments than any other so far this year. It will be very interesting to see the comparison of Dan’s power profile when he wins this event next year.
From the CC Giro wise old man, JJP OAP vin78, he suggests a few climbs of Gunby Hill hanging onto
Saywellian’s back wheel should sort out your lack of power!
Dan pass on congratulaions the team in getting the coveted Pink Jersey, long may you hold it.
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