Andy Tennant's East Anglia

17.09.2011

We’ve teamed up with The Tour of Britain’s Official Electronics Partner Sharp and the Rapha Condor Sharp squad to give you a deeper insight into this year’s Tour of Britain.

Read on to find out more about how Andy Tennant, of Rapha Condor Sharp, found Stage Seven of The Tour, with analysis by Dr David Bailey from the Claremont Sports Medicine & Performance Centre, official healthcare and sports science providers to Rapha Condor Sharp professional cycling team.

Stage Seven – Bury St Edmunds to Sandringham

Stage Results

1. Gediminas Bagdonas (An Post-Sean Kelly) 4:33:17

2. Ian Wilkinson (Endura Racing) @ same time

3. Mathieu Claude (Team Europcar) @ same time

4. Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen) @ same time

5. Richard Handley (Team Raleigh) @ 4s

72. Andy Tennant (Rapha Condor Sharp) @1min45s

Race Data

Distance: 200km (ascent: 760m)

Avg Power: 248W (normalised power: 299W)

Avg Speed:  42.9kphAvg Cadence: 85rpm

Avg Heart Rate: 144bpm

Stage Analysis

For the first time in this year’s Tour of Britain a break was successful in fending off the chasing peloton all the way to the finish in Sandringham. Having escaped the main field in the opening kilometres six riders rode through some heavy rain showers along the relatively flat roads of East Anglia. Although many may have predicted a bunch sprint finish considering the terrain and distance covered, the successful break was perhaps a result of the overall race situation rather than the physical demands of the day. It was also a great example of a group of riders cooperating well together in maintaining an average speed just quick enough to survive the efforts of UCI World Tour teams like Rabobank, HTC Highroad and Team Sky from closing the gap. The break achieved an average speed of 44kph, which was only marginally faster than the peloton that averaged 43.7kph. However, looking more closely at the data available the break rode close to 45kph throughout the 200km stage whereas the peloton were nearer 43kph apart from the final 15km. A small difference, but significant enough to influence the stage outcome. 

Although a part of the main field, Andy still averaged almost 300W (normalised) for the duration of the stage. With a training stress score of 271 and energy expenditure greater than 4000kJ, it was the distance covered rather than the height climbed that presented the biggest physical challenge. The stage was uneventful for Andy until the 125th kilometre where he decided to do some more off road riding suffering another crash but fortunately not as fast or damaging as the one on Stage Three. Immediately following this the peloton attempted to reduce the seven-minute lead accumulated by the break. Andy averaged 341W for the final 40km but this value dropped to 310W in the closing kilometre when the peloton gave up the chase.

As today was not quite as event filled as previous days this is a good opportunity to compare the varying demands of different types of stages. As we’ve seen the riders themselves often dictate the demands of each stage. However, it would be a little ignorant to ignore the true impact of terrain and weather on the racing. If we compare Andy’s race data from today’s stage with that collected on Stage 5 we can see how the distribution of power output varied. For example, today Andy only spent 25% of the stage (1 hour 15mins) riding above his functional threshold compared to 38% on Thursday (1 hour 40mins). Obviously, he didn’t ride for those durations in one effort. Instead a combination of terrain, wind and his race tactics contributed to a greater time spent above threshold on Stage Five. 

Another method of further analysing this is to compare his mean maximal power outputs for each stage. These values are simply the peak power outputs Andy sustained for given durations, ranging from one second to two hours. From a physiological perspective the key intervals are <10s, 2mins, 5mins and 30mins as this are a useful indicator of the sprint, anaerobic, aerobic and endurance demands of the stage. Starting with the sprint demands, Andy’s 10s peak power was 950W and 885W for Stages Five and Seven, respectively. These were achieved during the early efforts made to establish a breakaway group. The two and five-minute peak powers were achieved during the periods of climbing on Stage Five and in chasing with the peloton today. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his two-minute peak power was highest on Stage Five (510W vs. 440W) as was his five-minute peak power (420W vs. 390W). These powers represent sustained efforts utilising readily available muscle energy stores with limited oxygen (anaerobic) for the two-minutes and with predominately more oxygen (aerobic) for the five-minutes. Finally, Andy’s peak 30-minute power was also greatest on Thursday (355W vs. 311W) further establishing the distinct difference between these stages.

For further analysis go to www.i-performance.net 

Dr David Bailey works as a Sports Physiologist at the Claremont Sports Medicine & Performance Centre, official healthcare and sports science providers to Rapha Condor Sharp professional cycling team www.csmapc.co.uk