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.