2009 Tour of California: Stage 7 - Gustav Larsson, Team Saxo Bank

Gustav Larsson survived yet another fast paced stage and finished safely within the main group about two minutes behind the winning break. Saxo Bank was represented in the break by Frank Schleck who put in a very strong attack with one lap to go in Pasadena but came up short in 8th place. The action among the lead group of ten was similar to a Belgian kermesse -- One attack after another.

Gustav wasn’t a part of the final winning breakaway, but he did cover moves in the first hour of racing. The first part of the race was so fast that he set his highest 30-minute output of 416 watts (471 normalized power).

Saxo Bank’s Rider Development Manager, Bobby Julich, gave his thoughts on Gustav's stage 7 "after a great time trial yesterday, Gustav deserved a nice easy day, but that was not in the cards. The attacks lasted for about an hour and Gustav covered a few attacks himself. Once the break was established, things calmed down and it turned out to be a nicely controlled stage for him.”

The Tour of California is certainly not getting any easier as the riders race their way south. Stage 7 was a tough day and, according to Julich, Gustav said he felt good and under control so that must mean he is racing his way into some good from. To prove just how hard today was Gustav set both his highest CP4 value at 521w, and his highest CP30 value at 471w for any of the road stages this week. His TSS value of 243 was also his highest workload for any single day of racing yet.

Bobby has high hopes for Gustav as the Tour of Californisa wraps up tomorrow with the race’s highest peak yet to be concoured “He [Gustav] is really happy with how his form is coming around and that he is feeling stronger every day. Tomorrow could present him the chance to go on the attack, but the goal is more to help Jens [Voigt] stay in the front.”

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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