Stage 5: McLaren Vale - Willunga 131km
Stage Results
1. Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Movistar Team 3:06:10
2. Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team s.t.
3. Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad s.t.
10. Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Pro Cycling s.t.
General Classification
1. Cameron Meyer (Aus) Team Garmin-Cervelo 16:00:40
2. Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad :08
3. Laurens ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team :10
16. Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Pro Cycling :18
Ben Swift's Post-Race Comments
"Stage 5 of the TDU proved to be a tough one, but a good one for myself. Then wind was high today so that was a big factor and of course Willunga was the challenge of the day. My team did a great job setting a hard pace on the final accent of the climb and at the top there was only 18 guys. We managed to distance some important guys on the GC. Tomorrow is the big finale and its going to be an exciting one."
Analysis
Ben produced his second highest 5-minute power output of the Tour Down Under so far at 441w, compared to 444w recorded in stage 2. He also set his second highest 30-minute power value of the week at 321w, vs 328w in stage 4.
This was Ben's second highest overall power output of any stage as defined by normalized power. His normalized power for the stage was 298w, compared to 312w in stage 4. You can think of normalized power as the wattage he would have produced if he had maintained a constant power output for the entire stage. This is more or less the stress that his body felt, even though the actual average watts were much lower at 230w.
Training Stress Score (TSS) is yet another way to define how hard a race or training ride was on the body. Stage 5 was Ben's third highest TSS value at 206TSS points. His highest so far was stage 4 at 214TSS points. One way to think of TSS is to think of it in relation to a 60-minute time trial. A one-hour time trial would equal 100points. Therefore, it seems that each day's stage for Ben is about equal to having done two, one-hour time trials during each days stage.
Ben averaged 235watts in stage 4 yet his normalized power, which is more representative of the actual physiological stress, was 312watts. Ben set his highest 5-minute power output of 421w on the first climb (Checker Hill) of the day. It is interesting to note that Ben had his hardest 10-minute stretch within the first hour of the stage. This is quit common as the riders attack and race hard at the beginning to establish the day's breakaway. Once the break gets away the peleton tends to back off and eases into a steady pace with the goal of of reeling in the break within a few kilometers of the finish. Stage 4 saw the breakaway finally succeed by a mear 24 seconds. The peleton certainly chased hard thoigh as seen with Ben's 356 normalized power value for the final 15 minutes of the race.
