aerozy wrote:
I dont get some of you. A vo2 max (5min) of 6.6W/kg puts Vos at the beginning of the mens "domestic pro" bracket. Is that bad? How many of you have a 5min better then hers? Geeez my best is only 6.2 and I thought that wasnt bad. I remember seeing some power values from the 2012 tour of california, a certain rider with an american national jersey was doing 10mins off the front of the peloton at 330watts (light rider). In my view with a 5min power like that Vos could at her best do well in a mens race.
An FTP of 6.5 is according to science of sport the maximum an un-doped human being could possibly reach. We are talking about guys like Wiggins, Froome, Contador at the height of their form. So hats off to Vos!
That's 6.5 for 1 hour at the end of a stage race for their lactate threshold power value. 5min power would obviously be even higher. The value you mentioned for 10min wasn't close to maximal and happened in the middle of a race.
The TT times listed above at a speed of 27.37 mph would imply ~44km/hr speed or basically a ~55 min 40km TT. That's not very fast- most cat 3's and good masters racers at our TT champs last year topped that. The Cat 2 I coach that finishes in the top 30 in regional stage race TT's is 3min faster in a 40km TT using the same pace. 37th place in the men's race had a faster speed (27.7mph) than 10th in the women's field. Wiggins rode at 32.4 mph and Gilbert, who isn't a good TT'er still hit 30. Armstrong hit 29.7. So the disparities for 1st-10th in the women's TT is more than from 1st to 25th in the men's race. So yah, they're fast, but not the same depth.
Armstrong used to attend my father's lunch ride back 10 or so years ago and she never solo'ed away or did anything magical from anecdotal reports of the rides. Female pro international CX racers did a group ride here this fall and tailgunned the back before getting dropped on the hills. No doubt the top 10 you listed there are good and could challenge lots sheerly based on their low weight alone, but having compared power files for a Pro women's NRC top tier criterium to a Pro mens, its ridiculous exactly how much slower they really are. We're taking as slow as a cat 2/3 field. I'm sure at the top international level its better, but otherwise its really not that impressive. Junior races are a lot more exciting. Sorry just calling it like it is.
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). But based on that chart, she'd be a cat 2 racer (she's 55 kgs). She is always one of the last of her group to get up a climb, and has never won a sprint in her life (mind you, she doesn't race either).
