2011 Tour de France - Stage 7, July 8

Chris Anker Sorensen spends over 4 hours in Active Recovery!

Stage Results

1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad 5:38:53
2 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre - ISD
3 André Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto
135 Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Saxo Bank-SunGard 0:03:06

Chris Anker Sorensen's SRM Data

Total Time = 5:39
TSS = 202
Average Power = 178  Watts
Avg Normalized Power* = 239
Avg HR = 115
Max HR =170
Mean Maximal 1-minute power = 499
Mean Max 5-minute power = 401
Mean Maximal 20-minute power = 326
Avg Cadence = 85 rpm
Avg Speed = 23.3 mph

Race Analysis

One of the easiest stages so far for the first 3 and half hours, then all heck broke loose with crashes and resulting major chases just to keep in contention. Chris Anker Sorensen only averaged 182 watts (Normalized Power) for the first 3 and half hours of the race and the peloton went at a lazy 21.6mph average for that time. In all, Chris spent 4 hours in his Active Recovery zone today! In those first 3 and half hours of riding Chris only scored 74 TSS points, with an Intensity Factor of .45! For those of you that know about TSS and IF, those are incredibly low numbers which, when interpreted, means he rode very easily today. That's certainly not all bad at this point in the Tour since Chris, like the rest of the peloton really needed a day off.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a complete day off, as the last hour was quite intense. He averaged 322 watts for that last hour and got caught behind the crash that took out Wiggins and Horner. He had to chase hard for about 11 minutes at 381 watts, which is right below his FTP. After chasing hard, he must have caught the second group and then rode in with them to the finish, losing another 3 minutes to the leaders. Chris didn’t need more hard efforts today, but he only spent a total of 14 minutes in his threshold power zone which probably wasn’t too taxing.

For the entire 5 hour and 39 minute stage, he scored only 202 TSS points and his Normalized Power was 239 watts. For sure this was the easiest stage in the Tour so far and a welcome respite for all of the peloton I am sure. That is, aside from the horendous crashes that happened today.

Be sure to view Sorensen's actual race file in the TrainingPeaks.com Interactive File Viewer. Or, download his original file to view in TrainingPeaks WKO+ for your own in-depth analysis.

* Click here to learn what TSS (Training Stress Score), IF (Intensity Factor), NP (Normalized Power) and FTP (Functional Threshold Power) are, and how you can use these metrics along with a power meter to optimize your own training and racing just like pro's. Click here if you don't have a power meter but still want the benefits some of the same metrics in your training and racing.

File Analysis by Hunter Allen, Co-Author of "Training and Racing with a Power Meter" and Co-Developer of TrainingPeaks WKO+ analysis software.

Data captured by SRM Powercontrol 7.

Thank you to Saxo Bank-SunGard and Chris Anker Sorensen for allowing us to share race data and provide analysis on today's stage.

Click to View, Share or Download Today's File.

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