Thomas de Gendt puts out some huge numbers to get clear and take the climbers’ jersey on Tour de France stage 5 yesterday, Wednesday.
Stephen Gallagher and Philipp Diegner of Dig Deep Coaching have teamed up with @VeloViewer on a fascinating data project for the Tour de France
They bring us this easy to follow top notch analysis of the data from some of the stand-out riders during yesterday’s 216km stage 5 into Le Lioran.
A lot of the information is contained in two images below and you’ll need to click on them to make them full size and easier to read.
Stage 5: Heroic attacks and first GC battle
Greg van Avermaet (BMC) won Stage 5 of the 103rd Tour de France from a group that escaped just 10km into the race. The Belgian powerhouse dropped his last companion Thomas de Gendt on the penultimate climb to solo to victory 2 minutes ahead of the Lotto-Soudal rider, who took second place and the mountain jersey.
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Five minutes later the GC contenders - minus Vincenzo Nibali, Tom Dumoulin and Alberto Contador - came into the finish after a battle on the last climb, the Col de la Font de Cére.
The most intense performances so far
Thomas de Gendt’s numbers during the 5½ hours of riding through central France show just how hard the racing was.
He averaged a stunning 300W and his normalised power amounted to 327W, which equates to 4.74W/kg.
The initial attack to establish the break saw him put out 515W for nearly 4½ minutes and for the 20 minutes after he still rode at 5.52W/kg.
These hard efforts in the beginning did not prevent him from still performing well 5 hours later, as he climbed the last steep ascents at about 5W/kg or 345W at a very steady pace, trying to get back onto Van Avermaet’s wheel.
Even on the last climb, he barely lost a minute to the group of favourites behind though they were fighting for time gains.
The key numbers from stage 5
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The GC riders show their cards
Behind the epic rides at the front, the GC battle of this Tour started on the Pas de Peyrol with about 40KM to go.
Movistar set a blistering pace that dropped most of the field. When they reached the top of the 5.4km, 8.1% climb, a mere 25 riders remained in the group.
The elite group climbed the Peyrol in 14:55 minutes: An estimation of performance for FDJ captain Thibaut Pinot equated to approximately 393W or 6.04W/kg to stay with the best climbers of the race.
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And even Fabrice Jeandeboz (Direct – Energie), who lost 40 seconds here, still put out 5.98W/kg during his fight to stay in touch.
Pas de Peyrol with about 40km to go
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Bardet drops the hammer
Inside the last 6km, the riders faced a last test, the Col de la Font de Cére - 3.3km at 5.8%).
As Van Avermaet and De Gendt were already safe near the finish, the main group knew that a stage victory was not up for grabs.
But that did not stop Romain Bardet (AG2r La Mondiale) from placing the first real acceleration.
As a result he flew up the last 2.2km of the ascent at 26km/h and an estimated 6.1W/kg and dropped the suffering Contador in the process.
The high pace of the strongest riders is emphasised by the 390W (6W/kg) that Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL–Jumbo) rode at on the whole climb after 5½ hours in the French heat, always staying near the front.
In the end, Bardet was caught again by Movistar’s and Pinot’s efforts, but his attack promises more to come for the real mountain stages.
Last 6km, stage 5
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To put the climbing performances of the world-class riders into perspective, take a look at the best Strava performance on the difficult 7.4% Col de Pertus of an amateur rider before stage 5 came by.
Strava user Ken Gallardo needed 20:02 for the climb, while the likes of Kelderman, Pinot and Reichenbach flew up the road in 14:45 minutes. That is about 35% faster than the “normal” rider.
Stage 6 today, Thursday, to Montauban is most likely going to be another chance for the sprinters to compete for a stage win.
Thursday's stage 6 profile
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