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Michal Kwiatkowski’s Amstel Gold winning ride on Strava

World Champion averaged 39.6km/h for the 259km race to win 50th edition of Amstel Gold Race

Michal Kwiatkowski broke the curse of the rainbow jersey by winning the sprint in the finale of the 50th edition of the Amstel Gold Race at the weekend.

The 24-year-old Ettix-Quick Step rider is one of the new wave of young professional cyclists regularly using Strava to share his training and race data. After the prize ceremony and presumably a shower and some food, he shared his winning ride on the social training website. You can view it here, it makes for some interesting reading.

The Amstel Gold Race is a long race at 259km and dispels the myth that Holland is flat, with 3,669m of climbing. The distance and climbing will have contributed huge levels of fatigue by the time the race hit the final ascent of the Cauberg for sure. Kwiatkowski had to dig deep into his reserves, first following the attack by Philippe Gilbert on the Cauberg, and then having just enough time to recover as the bunch came back together and swamping the two breakaway riders, Gilbert and Michael Matthews, and timing his sprint to perfection to cross the line first. His efforts in the race burned through an astonishing 9685 calories - he’ll have needed to drink a few of the race sponsors beers to replenish those expended calories.

It was a fast run race too. Kwiatkowski raced around the route at an average speed of 39.6km/h and maxxed out at an impressive 83.5km/h, taking just 6 hrs 32 mins 47 secs to complete the race. His average power, as estimated by Strava so worth taking with a pinch of salt, was 369w.

His ride is popular on Strava. At the time of writing he has received 4990 kudos and 348 comments. You can see the Strava activity here.

You can check out Michal Kwiatkowski’s custom world championship Specialized S-Works Tarmac bike in this article. He rode the latest Specialized Tarmac but there are a few changes to the bike he was riding last year, as the team have now moved from SRAM and Zipp to Shimano and Roval for groupsets and wheels respectively. FSA has also stepped in and supplies the chainsets, handlebars, stems and seatposts.

Amstel Gold Race Strava stats:

Distance 259.0km
Moving Time: 6:32:47
Elevation: 3,669m
Energy Output:  8,686kJ
Speed Average: 39.6km/h
Speed Max: 83.5km/h
Calories: 9,685

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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8 comments

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RTB | 9 years ago
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I really like that he uses a bog standard Garmin Edge 500 to record it.

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dotdash | 9 years ago
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Have a look at the flyby for it:

http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/#288648247

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Meanredspider | 9 years ago
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Two sides to this coin:

Firstly, a mighty mighty impressive ride and win, riding up some short sharp brutal climbs (Ive done a few rides in Limburg and I'm glad I got the gearing right) where you're pretty much riding for yourself. That's the power numbers I'd love to see.

Secondly, though, the peloton makes a nonsense of any of the average figures. One of the fastest rides I've done was on a Lance Armstrong Twitter ride. There must have been 200-300 people all trying to get close to the (now infamous) man - in the middle of such a peloton, you're just sucked along - I was on the brakes as much as I was pedalling - it was like a magic carpet ride - doing 40kmh without trying.

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olic | 9 years ago
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So according to those estimated figures he burnt 3500kcal more than de Maar? Don't think so!

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Rupert | 9 years ago
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Super fast ride with Mr Kwiatkowski ....... Strava's facts & Figures goes nowhere near to explaining the dedication, training effort and pain a rider goes through to achieve such greatness.

The big one next week Liege Bastogne Liege. Who's gonna get the best results on STRAVA for this event. #DanMartin

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willvousden | 9 years ago
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Strava's estimated power is laughable – no one can do 370 W for 6.5 hours.

For comparison, Marc de Maar's (real) weighted average was 306 W.

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DreaMin replied to willvousden | 9 years ago
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That's why is estimated. Strava doesn't discern between a solo and a group ride, where drafting reduces a lot the power output required. Btw is still an impressive ride!

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Swerks | 9 years ago
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E P I C!!!

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