We are very glad and excited that Chris has sent us Tour of California SRM data as well as his last long training session before he left for France. This is exceptional, as most riders don't give such kind of insights into their physical abilities. We really appreciate it and we hope that Chris is able to perform at his highest level during the Tour de France so we can share the data of a very successful Tour de France rider with you.

The Amgen Tour of California 2011 started in Lake Tahoe. Or actually, it,s better to say it did not start in Lake Tahoe, as the weather conditions made it impossible to ride the first stage.
Even stage 2 was shortened to 123 km and started in Nevada City, finishing in Sacramento. Ben Swift (Team Sky) won the sprint, perfectly set up by his team, ahead of Peter Sagan (Team Liquigas - Cannondale) and Matthew Goss (Team HTC Highroad).
It was a pretty easy stage for Chris Horner, just taking care not to crash and lose time. 190 watts average for the 2:48 hours, burning nearly 2,000 calories. It was a pretty good warm up for the upcoming stages with some intensity in the last 20 minutes.

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The last 20 minutes on the circuit show the typical changes - he stops pedaling for cornering, and then accelerates to gain speed again. 307 watts average but with peaks of up to 860 watts. Not too hard - but he was not riding to win the stage and could draft in the slipstream of the peloton.

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Stage 3 from Auburn to Modesto was again the perfect terrain for the sprinters. The headwind they rode into for most of the 196 kilometers made it hard for the breakaway and the riders who set the speed on the front of the peloton.
The breakaway was caught back with 19 km to go. The two laps on the circuit in Auburn were very nervous. Chris got in serious trouble when he and Peter Sagan got squeezed in and they both nearly crashed. It took out all the spokes of his back wheel and got the bike of his teammate Markel Irizar. So he finished the race safely hiding in the peloton while Markel waited for the team car to change the back wheel and rode to the finish - which explains the significantly higher max power of the last 13 minutes SRM data.

Again Team Sky launched the sprint perfectly. This time Kiwi Greg Henderson took the win and the overall lead.

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Stage 4 was Chris Horner's stage. For the first time he won a stage at the Tour of Colorado. The way he succeeded showed everybody that he's the man to beat in this race. Perfectly supported by his teammates, especially the 3-times-ToC winner Levi Leipheimer who did an exceptional job, Chris was able to finish more than a minute ahead of the second placed Andy Schleck.

Chris' average power for the day was 254 watts (3.9 w/kg estimating a body weight of 65 kg) for more than 3½ hours burning about 3,300 calories. Amazing!

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Team RadioShack accelerated into the first big mountain of the Tour - Mount Hamilton. For 22:43 minutes Chris had to ride at more than 356 Watts average (5.6 w/kg) and that was in the slipstream of his teammates. No wonder the group was down to about 30 riders when they reached the summit. It was not steady climbing. The amplitude of the green power line between 300 and 480 watts document this pretty well.

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Team RadioShack accelerated into the first big mountain of the Tour - Mount Hamilton. For 22:43 minutes Chris had to ride at more than 356 Watts average (5.6 w/kg) and that was in the slipstream of his teammates.
No wonder the group was down to about 30 riders when they reached the summit. It was not steady climbing. The amplitude of the green power line between 300 and 480 watts document this pretty well.

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Stage 5 from Seaside to Paso Roble was this Tour's longest stage with more than 217 kilometers. Not an easy profile especially for the leader's team. But they got help from the sprinter's teams and could handle the situation pretty well.
Chris was able to hide in the slipstream. 225 watts average, riding nearly 41 km/h show the importance of economic riding. Still he burned nearly 4,400 calories and carbo fueling in the race and refueling after is crucial to survive a stage race and recover fast.

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Stage 6 was the time trial in Solvang. 24 km against the clock. Not really Chris' favorite discipline. But in good shape even this is easier than normal, and it seems Radioshack and Trek have worked on his time trial position.
Chris pushed really hard in the beginning before he found his rhythm on the uphill, always around 360 watts (5.5 w/kg). On the steep section up the hill he accelerated to gain some more time before the downhill - 490 w (7.5 w/kg) for 1:25 minutes before he hit the downhill and tried to recover for the last 2 kilometers.
Crossing the line his average speed was 46 km/h, 365 watts (5.6 w/kg) finishing 6th only 51 seconds behind David Zabriskie (Team Garmin-Cervélo).

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Stage 7, the Queen's Stage, was Team Radioshack show. No other team was able to get close to their performance on their home turf. Team Garmin-Cervélo attacked from the beginning but didn't get away, and didn't even isolate Levi and Chris from their team.
334 watts (5.1 w/kg) average for the first 49 minutes of the race with a lot of accelerations show the intensity of the first part of the stage.
The team led Levi and Chris into the final kilometers of Mt. Baldy. Then they accelerated together with Levi in front. Hand in hand they crossed the finish line - 43 seconds ahead of the next rider. 360 watts (5.5 w/kg) average for 23:35 minutes up Mt. Baldy. What a day for the team!

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Stage 8 from Santa Clarita to Thousand Oaks was the final day. A sprinter's stage won by Aussie Matthew Goss (Team HTC Highroad). Chris - well protected by his teammates - could enjoy his impressive performance the days before. 3 hours, 209 watts average - it was one of the easy stages of this year's Tour of California.

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Let's have a look at the periodic view - all stages in one view, the time in different intensity zones and the peak power values for different time intervals (up on the right hand side).
7 stages, nearly 27 hours on the bike (warm up before the tt included), burning about 20,700 calories in total.
His 20 minutes critical power was 404.5 watts - which lets us estimate his anaerobic threshold at about 382 watts (5.9 w/kg).
The distribution of intensities is interesting:
6:34 h drafting with zero watts and another nearly 5:10 h below 212 watts - significantly more than one third of the time riding very economically, protected by his team in the slipstream. But also 3:40 h above 460 watts (20% above his threshold) showing a significant time in the high intensity anaerobic zone.

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On June 25th Chris had his last long and intense training ride before travelling to Europe. Six hours, 247 watts average and 2840 meters of climbing. A tough day on the bike covering 205 kilometers burning 5,300 calories. This is of course proof of his good shape right before the Tour. No big races after Tour of California but good, hard training.  

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Chris Horner's performance data, his experience and his team will make him one of the riders to watch in this year's Tour de France. Just one time trial on the second last day is also an advantage for him. Hard mountain stages in the Pyrenees and Alps will favor his climbing abilities. Important of course is to avoid crashes and stay in good health.

Good luck and all the best for the Tour de France 2011!