This was Sam Bennett's most powerful sprinting of 2018, as captured in Velon's data. He put out huge numbers winning his first of three Giro stages. And the comparative watts measurements show he was one of the most powerful in the final kick to the line all season.
Ireland’s Sam Bennett took three stage wins in the Giro d’Italia, cementing his place as one of the very best sprinters in the world.
And now VelonLive’s data collected through the season shows just how powerful the Carrick-on-Suir man is compared to the other fastest men in cycling.
What’s really interesting about Bennett is that he can climb better than all of the other sprinters.
Yet when it comes to the maximum watts they all put out this year, Bennett’s numbers were only beaten by one other rider; André Greipel.
Advertisement
And that combination, of climbing ability and sheer sprint power, should see Bennett continue to collect win after win in the years ahead.
His versatility should also ensure he enjoys longevity in his career as he has more to fall back on that sheer sprinting power.
But for the purposes of this piece; power is what we’re interested in. So how does Sam Bennett shape up?
In the Velon sprinting data gathered this year, Greipel set the standard very early in the pro road race season.
The big German took the win for Lotto-Soudal on stage 6 at the Tour Down Under. He put out a maximum of 1,903 watts; a pretty staggering number.
During that sprint he came off the wheel of Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) and reached a top speed of 76.8km. He also averaged 1,326 watts for his full sprint effort.
In terms of peak power, Bennett was next best when all the Velon sprinting data for the year is analysed.
He took the first of his three Giro wins on stage 7, when he hit 1,480 watts. He also averaged 1,070 watts for his full sprint, which lasted 17 seconds.
With that effort he won out over Elia Viviani; the QuickStep rider who got the best of the early exchanges in the Giro's opening sprints in Israel.
Related News
'That was genius timing!' ?
Sam Bennett pips Elia Viviani to get his first ever Grand Tour stage win after a frantic sprint finish! ?#Giro101 pic.twitter.com/XtcSAWjULW
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) May 11, 2018
One interesting thing to mention in comparing Bennett’s and Greipel’s peak power is that they were recorded in very different races.
The German was claiming the 90km circuit race stage of the Tour Down Under in Adelaide; after just two hours of racing when all the sprinters would have been quite fresh.
But for Bennett, his peak number came at the end a 159km stage, some 3:45 in the saddle, in a Grand Tour.
The average speed of the race Bennett won was 42.32 km per hour, for close on four hours. Greipel’s stage was faster, at 44.51km per hour, but was close to half the length in time.
After the German and Irish power surges came a Colombian surge; from Fernando Gaviria on stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse.
He hit a maximum of 1,440 watts and averaged 1,200 watts for his 22-second sprint to 2nd place. Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) won the day, though his peak numbers did not make the list for the season.
However, Sagan’s numbers were among three very impressive sets of data from the top three on the third stage of the Tour de Suisse.
Big sprint in Switzerland
Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) won with maximum power of 1,190 watts and an average of 1,050. His top speed was 63km per hour.
He won from Gaviria, who maxed out at 1,380 watts and averaged 1,130 watts, with a top speed of 63km.
However, while the Colombian's kick was more powerful, Colbrelli’s average speed for the sprint was 59.5km per hour, compared to Gaviria’s 59.1km.
Sagan was 3rd, with a maximum power of 1,420 watts and an average of 1,070. His top speed was 62.8km while his average was 58.5km.
Back to the Giro, QuickStep’s Viviani claimed stage 13 with a 1,310 watts max. He averaged 1,100 watts for 16 seconds, hitting a top speed of 69.2km per hour.
The Velon data does not capture every sprint, rather a selected number of riders in certain races. But it does offer an interesting insight into what’s under the bonnet.
Topics
