Chris Froome’s attack on the Colle delle Finestre last Friday, which would pave the way to his overall victory at the Giro d’Italia, saw him average 397 watts on the final 3 kilometres of the climb.
Figures released by Velon, the joint venture set up by a number of UCI WorldTour teams including Team Sky, show that on the final part of the climb after attacking his rivals, the 33-year-old maintained a cadence of 95rpm as he rode up an average gradient of 9.3 per cent.
The move came with 80 kilometres remaining of Stage 19 and on the 11.2 kilometre descent, where he put around a minute into his rivals, Froome had an average speed of 53 kilometres an hour, topping 80 kilometres an hour at one point.
Froome was one of 144 riders taking part in the race whose power output, speed, heart rate and cadence were tracked throughout the three weeks and Velon has now brought together details of the Team Sky rider’s Giro d’Italia here.
Besides last Friday when he stormed into the race lead with that solo attack, Stage 14 and its summit finish on the Zoncolan also stand out – and Froome’s win there can be seen in the context of the overall victory, rather than a potential consolation prize after a difficult opening fortnight that saw him crash twice.
His attack from 1.3 kilometres out on the Zoncolan saw him average 465 watts as he tackled the 15.4 per cent gradient at an average speed of 12.4 kilometres an hour.
On Saturday’s Stage 20, Froome was defending the Maglia Rosa, holding a 40-second lead from Team Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin, winner of last year’s Giro d’Italia.
The final climb to Cervinia saw him have to respond to a series of attacks from the Dutchman.
Velon says that in one part of the climb lasting a little over 9 minutes and with an average gradient of 8.8 per cent, Froome had an average power output of 420 watts – he hit 760 watts at some point – and an average speed of 21 kilometres an hour.
The final stage on Sunday saw the riders at the top of the overall standings ride round Rome at a sedate pace, with safety concerns leading organisers to take the final time for the general classification after just three of the 10 laps had been completed.
Froome rolled across the line with his Team Sky colleagues more than a quarter of an hour after the sprinters had battled for the stage win and had ample time to take in the sights and savour his victory – reflected in an average power output of just 100 watts in the closing 2.5 kilometres.
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