Another race and another great result by SRM sponsored athlete Michael Weiss taking the podium at his home race in St.Polten, Austria. His overall time was 3:53:45 which included the fastest bike/run combination of the day for his 4th consecutive race. Eneko Llanos and Marino Vanhoenacker took the two top spots respectively. Great weather, which went from a warm and pleasant 18C at dawn to 25C by the time many of the age group ranks were coming home, combined with superb race day organisation and an electric atmosphere which the Austrians seem so good at creating, resulted in a super day for all. Congratulations to everyone involved. In this article, as always, I want to look at Michi’s numbers from the bike leg [His numbers were metronomically similar to his IM 70.3 St.George performance 3 weeks ago to within a handful watts although slightly higher during short efforts which is a sign that frequent racing is still sharpening his form rather than turning into fatigue]. But also, because one of my best age group coached athletes, Dubai-based Ian Le Pelley, was taking part in the race and whose physiology I know as intimately as Michi’s, I thought that comparing the power files between one of the best athletes in the world and one of the best age group athletes in Dubai could be an interesting insight for many readers. I should also point out that this was only Ian’s second 70.3 race ever and his first for three years yet he still managed to come 11th while posting the second fastest swim and bike splits in his age group. Not bad for a man with a full time career and young family! Impossible is, as we say, nothing. Let’s take a look at what these two incredible athletes are doing that the rest of us can learn from:
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The Giro d'Italia's first Individual Time Trial was Stage 12, a 41.9km course from Barbaresco to Barolo through the famous winemaking region in northern Italy. The route featured challenges for every type of rider; climbing, flat sections, straight aways, and tight corners and combined with the stormy wet weather conditions it was a true test of power and skills. Going into the stage, Cannondale Team Captain, Ivan Basso, was ranked 10th overall in the GC and a top finishing time could likely move him up significantly.
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Taylor Phinney of the BMC Racing Team broke away 25 kilometers from the finish Thursday at the Amgen Tour of California and held off the charging pack on the run-in to the oceanside finish in Santa Barbara to earn his third victory of the season. "This was a great ride by Taylor," remarked Bobby Julich. "You could see from the salt stains on his jersey that it was another taxing day on the riders and he saw his opportunity to go for the stage and took it. Obvioulsy, Cannondale wasn't messing around up San Marcos Pass in their attempt to drop the sprinters, but he absorbed that effort very well. The descent favoured a bigger guy like Taylor, but he really had to fight during the run in to Santa Barbara. Each one of those rollers could have been the end of his breakaway attempt, but he powered over them and kept his speed and cadence very high. Averaging over 400w, 105 rpm and over 50kph at the end of a stage like that was world class. Very few riders could have pulled that off, but Taylor seems to be making it his signature move in road races. I liked the way that once he committed to the effort, he never looked back until he was preparing his victory salute.... which was, in my opinion, also world class!"
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Giro d'Italia stages 3 and 4 saw SRM teams narrowly miss victory as Trek Factory Racing's Giacomo Nizzolo took second after a slippery city centre circuit in Bari followed by Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) crossing the line just behind Lampre's Diego Ulissi in yesterday's stage 5. Here is the photo gallery capturing SRM power in action.
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Marcel Kittel, has completed the hat trick of winning a stage in all three Grand Tours as he took victory in stage 2 and stage 3 of the 97th Giro d’Italia with SRM sponsored team, Giant-Shimano. Marcel out-sprinted the field to take both the first and second road stages of the race in Ireland. The first 219km road stage, starting and finishing in Belfast, was in the cross hairs of Marcel and the team since arriving here in Northern Ireland and the plan worked out perfectly as Marcel powered home to take the first road stage of the first Grand Tour of 2014. The first road stage of the Giro saw four riders take to the fore early on a build up enough of a lead to spend nearly the entirety of the first stage out front of the peloton. The final escapee was reeled back in with just three kilometres left to race and from here all was set for a sprint showdown and even with the expectation and pressure of being the favourite for the stage Marcel did not disappoint, taking the sprint in impressive fashion ahead of Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek). -Team Giant-Shimano
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