cheesesandwich

Why do they have problem on climbs? They put out alot of power during the sprints but struggles in the mountains. Someone like Caleb Ewans weight no heavier than other climbers, Others I would have thought its because of their body weight but the power that those legs can do should even things out.

MinnMan

wrong forum. Belongs here: https://www.bikeforums.net/professional-cycling-fans/

short answer: explosive short bursts of power are physiologically different from long efforts at high power/weight.

seypat

Different types of muscles.

caloso

It's basically the same reason that Usain Bolt would never win a marathon.

johnny99

Pro sprinters are a lot faster than most amateur racers on the climbs. Maybe twice as fast as recreational club riders. However, if they are not going to contest the GC or KOM, they are not going to go all out on the climbs. They want to save their energy for the sprints.

Erzulis Boat 

If they changed the rules and required that you complete the Tour to retain your sprint victories............................watch how those sprinters would magically sprout wings!

Cipollini would cash out on cue once it went to the mountains for example.

bmcer

Just out of idle curiosity, does anyone have a idea of what kind of wattage a pro sprinter is capable of generating?

caloso

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/r...blowing-359140

seypat

This might give something in the range.

surak

They aren't slow, especially not at the World Tour level. They're just not quite as fast as the fastest climbers in the world. If the climbers are riding at or beyond threshold, then of course those with lower sustained W/kg are going to blow their doors off if they tried to keep pace.

I believe it was Michael Woods (EF) who mentioned during TdF commentary he did on FloBikes how literally every World Tour rider are among the best in the world at riding in all conditions and are the best in the world at one type (sprinting, flats, breakaways, rolling, etc). He mentioned being at one-day races wheezing up a steep climb only to turn and see Andre Greipel spinning calmly, breathing out his nose.

I'm told (since I don't pay attention to this sort of thing) that many Strava climbing segment KOMs in my area are still owned by Tyler Farrar, a sprinter and the last American to win a stage at the TdF, even though he stopped syncing his rides years ago.

bmcer

That is in-freaking-credible. On a good day, I might get to half that for maybe 10 seconds.

Chinghis

That'a great image. Mainly because we've all been there and can relate, I guess.

cheesesandwich

I don't mean to say they are slow. But at times they they have to work very hard to be in the time limit of the race. But the videos and sprinter vs marathoner make sense,

rubiksoval

Same as good amateur sprinters.

Just at the end of absolutely mind-boggling hard races and lead-outs.

RiceAWay

In the sprint itself around 2 kilowatts. This is why they can only hold it for seconds.

MinnMan

[QUOTE=rubiksoval;21695620]Same as good amateur sprinters.

/QUOTE]

Is that right? The strongest guy I ride with regularly hits 1200 or 1300 watts on his sprints, but that's 5-10 seconds. He's a cat 3 on his way to cat 2, but that's a LONG way off from 1000+ watts for more than a minute. What are typical 1 minute watts for an amateur cat 1/2 crit sprint?

RiceAWay

I watched the power meter of a Cat 1 hitting 1600 watts coming out of a turn and accelerating up the straight. If he had a 10% calibration error that still put pro sprinters up to 2 kilowatts for a short period of time.

rubiksoval

No one's doing 1000 watts for a minute in a sprint at the end of a race, but stuff like this:

Quote:

hitting 1,480w on his way to his maiden Grand Tour victory at the 2018 Giro.

and this

Quote:

average power of 1,100w for the 16-second sprint that concluded the stage, hitting a max of 1,310w

and this

Quote:

The Colombian surged ahead of Sagan with a 1,200w effort for 22 seconds, hitting a maximum output of 1,440w.

are the type of sprint performances you can find even in cat 3/4 races (except for the 1200 for 22 seconds, that's tough) from the better sprinters.

The difference, as mentioned, is when and after what they occur.

Looking at one minute power of a cat 1/2 in a sprint doesn't really tell you anything unless it's a super long, drawn-out uphill sprint, as everyone is trying to draft and negotiate packs/corners/etc for most of that last minute.

rubiksoval

Hardly any pro sprinters are anywhere close to 2,000 watts at the end of the race. Griepel is probably the hugest and most powerful and is one of the only guys close to that.

MinnMan

Yeah, thanks. I misread the article. Unfortunately, the article describes some averages "for his entire sprint" without specifying all the durations.

rubiksoval

Probably ~15ish-20ish seconds, give or take a bit. Much more than 200 meters out and they're likely to get overtaken.

Sy Reene

At the same time, imagining say a 130 mile flat stage, what type of rider wins? Isn't answer who can sustain the most avg wattage over the longest period of time? So if sprinters do badly on climbing stages but better on flat stages, if the climbs were longer would the sprinters win?

WhyFi

No.

caloso

The guy who wins a flat stage is often the one who sustains the least avg wattage, not the most.

Sy Reene

Hmm.. even though most everyone finishes with the same time.
And remembering the OP's premise that the climber and the sprinter weigh the same.