Nicolas Roche's data, with power, from Vuelta stage win; nearly 700 watts for final 40 secs

Nicolas Roche certainly got the power down when winning Sunday's stage 2 at the Vuelta a Espana. He pushed out an impressive average of almost 700 watts for his 40 second final charge to the line to claim his best win ever; no wonder the others couldn't live with him (Photo: Paddy Sweeney - www.velopeloton.com)

As we can see from the SRM data below – from the on-bike system used to measure a rider's power output – Nicolas Roche generated some pretty impressive numbers when winning stage 2 of the Vuelta a Espana on Sunday.

The first mountain stage of the race, it began in Pontevedra and took in 176.8km on the way to the summit finish at Alto Do Monte Da Groba. Roche clocked a time of 4hrs 37mins 9secs.

The Saxo-Tinkoff man, who was racing at around 70kg, averaged 206 watts over the 176.8km course with an average cadence of 72rpm.

He maintained an average speed of 38kph. His heart rate average was 132bpm and after 2,000 metres elevation gain he had burned nearly 3,400 kilocalories.

Roche began the final Alto do Monte da Groba climb with the depleted peloton as it swept up an escape group.

He pushed out 411 average watts on the ascent for 24 minutes, with 90rpm average cadence. In the last 2 kilometres he powered away off the front, at first in a small group of four, before pushing on alone in a surge that demolished those with him.

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When he put in that final effort he really and truly made his nearest rival – today’s stage 4 winner Daniel Moreno (Katusha) – look very average and the Irishman’s data shows why.

For the last 40 seconds before the line, as he took flight and pressed for home, Roche produced an average power output of very close to 700w.

SRM data for the full stage

Race Winning Effort over 10km

Race Averages