Darren Lill's Stage 5: Visalia to Bakersfield

Day: Thu, May 20
Start: Visalia
Finish: Bakersfield
Start Time: 10:45 AM
Miles: 121.5
KM: 195.5

We have been trying to follow and post data from Jay Thomson after each stage but

unfortunately Jay crashed along with Lance Armstrong and a few other big names today

and was forced to abandon the Tour. Jay has a sprained wrist and a bruised hip and

back.

Fly V australia has now allowed us to post data from another South African on the

team. Darren Lill is a rider you may have read about who won the final day of the Tour

of the Gila just a few weeks ago. TrainingPeaks also posted his file from that stage and

as a climber you might imagine Darren is a little guy. In fact he only weighs 129lbs.

Stage 5 Visalia - Bakersfield 195km

4:52

Avg watts: 228w (269n)

Max Watts: 925

avg heart rate: 145

Max HR: 177

KJ: 4066

TSS: 328

Stage 5 was the hardest stage so far for Darren Lill of Fly V australia team. His job

today was to make sure the breakaway didn't get too far up the road so that his

sprinters would have a chance of winning the stage at the end. This strategy was chosen

despite the fact that FlyV also had Ben Day in the breakaway group of six.

For the middle hour of the stage Darren took turns riding on the front with a few other

riders from Liquigas and Garmin. The effort took it's toll on Darren as he averaged

286w for 60 minutes which is about 5w/kg! Pretty tough day for a little guy.

When the main pack eneterd the circuit only 1 minute down from the six leaders Darren

swung off and finished a few minutes behind the eventual winner Peter Sagan.

The Hardest Day so Far

Stage 5 was the hardest dayfor Darren so far when you take a look at his TSS which

was 328. His previous highest TSS day was stage 2 at 315TSS. Stage 5 also produced

his hghest CP60 value (286w) compared to the next highest of stage 2 at 283w.

Tomorrow is the real mountain tough and this will for sure the highest TSS and kilojoule

day of them all. The race heads up to Big Bear Lake and starts in Palmdale a good

130miles away. This is going to be a 6 and a half hour stage and many won't survive to

the finish. darren is in great spirits and is looking forward to the challenge Big Bear

brings.