2009 Tour of California: Stage 3 - Gustav Larsson, Team Saxo Bank
February 17, 2009 Tour of California Stage 3: San José - Modesto, 104.2 mi
Under Control Helping Juan Jose Haedo
Gustav Larsson's SRM power meter Summary Data for Stage 3:
Stage placing: 64th
GC placing after Stage 3: 32nd at 6:08
Body Weight 80kg
Average speed: 22.4mph
Max speed: 52.2mph
Average heart rate: 121
Max heart rate: 166
Average cadence: 89
Average heart rate: 122
Average watts: 290w (336 normalized power)
Max watts: 1047w
Training Stress Score: 260
Gustav Larsson completed Stage 3 of the Tour of California under control and with no major mishaps or issues. He was in charge of protecting his Team Saxo Bank sprinter Juan Jose Haedo (also known as JJ Haedo).
Team Saxo Bank's Bobby Julich described the day as being "a bit stressful because they had Sierra Road right at the start." Gustav was assigned to ride with JJ Haedo up the climb since today would most likely be a sprint finish in Modesto. In fact Gustav rode well within his capabilities by averaging 425w for 22 minutes up the Sierra Rd. climb. For comparison, Gustav maintained 435w for 28 minutes on stage 2's Bonny Doon climb.
In addition to the first climb up Sierra Rd there was one other difficult climb within today's stage which was Patterson Pass. Gustav averaged a relatively comfortable 405w for 9 minutes on this final ascent.
Bobby summarized the stage by saying, "JJ did a good climb (up Sierra Rd.), so it was not hard for them to catch back on during the descent. There was alot of wind today and the team took turns taking the wind and keeping JJ fresh for the sprint."
Once JJ successfully got over the two main climbs it was time to work with the other teams who had sprinters to try and real back a four-man breakaway which had escaped earlier in the stage. Gustav aided the chase effort and his SRM file shows his heart rate slowly rise over the last 50 minutes of racing. He averaged 312 watts in the final 50 minutes and 407 watts for the final 11 minutes along with about eight 1,000 watt maximum accelerations. In the end JJ was not well positioned and finished 16th in the final sprint.
"Overall, he (Gustav) feels OK, but the weather and difficult courses are starting to get to the rider's morale," added Bobby.
Click the first link below to view Gustav's SRM power meter file in TrainingPeaks' all new File Viewer. (Learn how to use File Viewer ). Click the second link below to download Gustav's original WKO+ file uploaded from his race. Once downloaded, you can then view his file in your own version of TrainingPeaks desktop analysis software, WKO+. If you don't have WKO+, dowload a free trial here.
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