Stage 1- Salida to Mt. Crested Butte, August 23, 2011

Results

1 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack 4:29:22

2 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Gobernacion De Antioquia - Indeportes Antiquia 0:00:04

3 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:00:07

49 Christopher Jones (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:01:20

Chris Jones SRM Data

Total Time = 4:30

TSS = 228

KJ= 2986

Average Power = 184 watts

Normalized Power* = 228

Avg HR = 148 bpm

Max HR = 190 bpm

Mean Maximal 1-minute power = 437 watts

Max Maximal 5-minute power =325 watts

Mean Maximal 20-minute power = 260 watts

Avg Cadence = 91 rpm

Avg Speed = 21.9mph

Elevation gain= 6607 feet

 

Race Analysis

Chris Jones had a relatively easy day in the peloton today; even with the climb over the massive 3000’ Monarch pass climb that topped out at 10,818’. The Monarch climb came early in the race today and because of that, it really wasn’t much a factor in determining the outcome of finale. Jones rode at a steady and leisurely average 3.9 watts per kilogram up the 56 minute climb which is a wattage of 247 watts.  Jones is a pretty light rider at 140lbs and combining that with the impact of the elevation makes those wattage numbers lower than we are used to seeing. The effect of the altitude on Chris and all of the riders today is roughly a 10% decrease in power across the board.  When the elevation goes above 9,000’ to 10,000’ then factor in about a 12-14% decrease in power output. If we take this into account then Chris would have still only had to put out 4.2 watts per kilogram, or about 270 watts on the climb, which means the peloton rode up it pretty steady today.

The rest of the stage before the uphill finish on Mt. Crested Butte was all raced into a headwind and was a pretty casual affair with Chris spending 49.4% (2hours 19minutes), of the 4 hours 43 minute stage in his active recovery zone with most of that between Monarch pass and the finish. The final push up to Mt. Crested Butte was where all of the fireworks happened today and Chris averaged 316 watts for the last two miles of the stage, which equates to 4.9 watts per kilogram. Chris finished in 49^th place, 1:20 on the stage winner Levi and did well to finish in the main peloton.  Chris should be able to ride well tomorrow in the Queen Stage of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

Be sure to view Jones'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.

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File Analysis by Hunter Allen, Co-Author of "Training and Racing with a Power Meter" and Co-Developer of TrainingPeaks WKO+ analysis software. Browse Hunter Allen's training plans on TrainingPeaks.com.

Thank you to UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling  and Rory Sutherland for allowing us to share race data and provide analysis on today's stage.

Data captured by SRM

* 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 rackng.

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