The finale of stage 6 of the Tour may have been on narrower roads, but that did nothing to slow down the bunch.
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 stage 6 won by Mark Cavendish in a big bunch sprint.
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 6 from Arpajon-sur-Cère to Montauban
Cavendish scores again on hot day
The route of stage 6 of the Tour de France yesterday led the riders towards the Pyrenees in the south west; the big climbs now looming large over the race.
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It was particularly hot and sunny, with temperatures climbing to 36°C average on Timo Roosen’s (LottoNL – Jumbo) GPS device.
Classic flat stage
After the very hard stage 5 in the central mountains, the field seemed to have reached an agreement to start the stage in a more controlled manner, everyone expecting another sprint finish in Montauban.
Cannondale’s Kristijan Koren, who had to put out 293W in the first 25km on stage 5 in 48.5km/h, was able to drop down to 165W in the same phase yesterday.
This allowed two attackers to get up the road; Jan Bárta (Bora – Argon18) and YukijaArashiro (Lampre – Merida).
They took all the bonus sprints and mountain points along the route, without ever having a real chance to make it to the finish.
The peloton accelerated when it approached the last KOM, 40km from the line, where Laurens Ten Dam (Giant – Alpecin) rode with 377W (5,46W/kg) for 7 minutes at the front of the field.
The last 35km were covered with 51.6km/h as the two riders out front were scooped up.
The key numbers from stage 6
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Tricky final on smaller roads
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The last 10km were different to the other sprint finishes so far. The riders were faced with smaller roads and more corners.
But instead of slowing down, the aggressive fights for position just increased.
Mark Cavendish said afterwards that it was “terrifying” and the last 8.5km of 21st placed Oliver Naesen (IAM Cycling) are a good indication of the nature of these finishes.
He flew towards Montauban in 54.8km/h at 344W average power. The last 3km again surpassed 60km/h average speed, clocked by Marcus Burghardt, who was on protection duty for race leader Greg Van Avermaet.
Despite a “not totally smooth” lead-out by Dimension Data according to Cavendish’ main domestique Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (684W for 25s), the Manxman was still able to outsprint his rivals, who experienced similar lead-out problems.
Cav’s dash to the line saw him reach the dazzling top speed of 73km/h, leaving Marcel Kittel and young surprise Daniel McLay in his wake.
The stage 6 final
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Cadence
There has been written a lot about the ideal cadence for road cycling in past years. Most prominently is the advice that cyclists should try to adopt a rather high cadence of 90rpm and beyond.
A close look at the average cadences of riders in the Tour de France peloton shows that the actual application of this practice is not as prevalent as it might appear.
Recorded numbers included 82rpm (Grégory Rast), 91rpm (John Degenkolb), 84 (Dayrl Impey), 75rpm (Emanuel Buchmann) or 92rpm (Simon Geschke).
The outcomes seem very varied and the truth for finding your cadence, especially for longer road races , is probably more about what you are comfortable with, while avoiding very low revolutions per minute (<65), where the strain on the working muscle is too high.
Real Mountains Ahead
Stage 7 is going to be the first high mountain stage. The mythical Col d’Aspinwill be reached only 7KM before the finish in Lac de Payrolle and most likely, more riders will be forced to drop out of the GC battle.
Movistar and Team Sky will be trying to control the race and set up the race for their captains. On the other side, a breakaway with riders that have lost time already, might be able to contest for stage honours.
Look ahead to stage 7, Friday, profile
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