Stage 5 - 2011 Tour de France

Flecha KILLS it in the last ten minutes

Stage Results

1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad 3:38:32
2 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team
151 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Sky Procycling 00:01:57

Juan Antonio Flecha's SRM Data

Total Time = 3:40
TSS = 213
Average Power = 244 Watts
Avg Normalized Power* = 320w
Avg HR = 123
Max HR = 170
Mean Maximal 1-minute power = 623w (Highest of the Tour so far)
Mean Maximal 5-minute power = 459w
Mean Maximal 20-minute power = 339w
Avg Cadence =  83rpm
Avg Speed =  27.4mph

Race Analysis

A fast and hard day in the saddle for Flecha today, as the peloton averaged 27.2 mph for the entire 101 mile stage. Flecha had a Normalized Power of 319 for the entire stage, which is pretty incredible. Most amateur racers would love to be able to just do 319 watts for an hour, much less HAVE to do it for 3:44 just in order to stay in the peloton. It’s clear that today’s stage was a stage that only the best in the world would be able to survive and that is why Flecha was there.

Some of the hardest riding in the stage came about 2:35 into the stage where there was a tough crosswind for over 10km.  Flecha had to ride at 375 watts (normalized) through this section in order to stay in the group and while that’s only about 90% of his threshold power, it still makes for a hard section of road to ride. Even the first two hours were hard today, as Flecha averaged 285 watts for that period of time. That is a new ‘intensity’ record for the first two hours of the TDF.  Wonder how much harder it might get in the coming days!?

In the last 10km to the finish, Flecha must have been staying with Wiggins closely because he averaged 415 watts for that section and that was definitely on his limit with 5 significant efforts over 700 watts. In fact, Flecha created his best 1 minute of the TDF so far in those final ten minutes! He cracked out 623 watts with 4 hours and 10 minutes in his legs. WOW. I can only imagine that he can do over 750 watts for a minute when fresh!

Flecha continues to impress me with his ability to ride hard when needed, be there in the end on every stage and push to the limit to keep his leader at the front. He’s really on fire this year in the tour and I hope he gets some easier stages to save some energy for himself.

Be sure to view Flecha'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 Team Sky Pro Cycling and Juan Antonio Flecha 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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