Archibald and Lowden claim National 25 titles
Commanding performances as riders defy blustery weather to make up for lost time against the clock
Putting their road racing goals to one side for the season, John Archibald and Joss Lowden etched their names in history by clinching National 25 honours on Sunday.
Looking to showcase their sponsors and put their form to use, they both took the first of what they hope will be several national time trial crowns in the coming weeks.
Windy conditions challenged riders on a traditional out and back 25-mile course in Leicestershire.
However, Archibald recorded an average speed of over 33.4 miles per hour to set a winning time of 44 minutes and 50 seconds, giving him an impressive winning margin of 50 seconds.
“I always look at time trials and feel you can only do your best and if that’s finishing fourth or fifth then so be it,” said Archibald.
“It’s been frustrating to have no road racing at home or abroad, but I’ve got good form at the moment and did a good ride today.”
Archibald led a one-two for Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling, with Dan Bigham placing second in 45.40, just six seconds ahead of defending champion Christopher Fennell (The Independent Pedaler).
After placing ninth in the time trial World Championships days before, Alex Dowsett returned home looking for domestic honours ahead of the Giro d’italia.
However, a slow puncture on the return leg left him to finish in fourth place, a minute and eight seconds down on Archibald.
Lowden is also looking to finish her season with a flourish of national crowns after a road season impacted by a lack of road racing.
The Drops Cycling rider was battered around by the wind in the opening 12.5 miles before using the tailwind home to help her power up the homeward hills on the rolling course.
Her time of 52.14 beat Drops road racing team-mate Emily Meakin (riding for The
Independent Pedaler) into second by 41 seconds, while Alex Clay finished third.
“I’ve had a bad spell with illness and injury so it’s nice to be back racing properly,” said Lowden. “I felt like myself again so to come out and get the 25-mile win is a really good one.
“I wanted to try and win today and test my legs and see how I felt back racing again. I felt pretty strong on the return leg, I’m looking forward to the National 50 next weekend.”
Meanwhile, Thomas Day (Zannata Galloo Team) won the junior boys’ title and Maddie Leech (PH-MAS Cycling) the girls’.
If you wondered exactly what it took for Tadej Pogačar to win the Tour de France, you’re in the right place – the astonishing wattages and climbing speed which propelled his stage wins, and ultimately the yellow jersey in Paris, have been calculated, and they make for impressive reading.
Stephen Gallagher and Philipp Diegner of Dig Deep Coaching have extrapolated the data from the UAE rider’s Strava files, as well as those of some of his main rivals, and while many of the numbers are estimates the pair, who have used unpublished rider data to analyse races for the last five years, are confident their figures are accurate.
One of Pogačar’s most impressive performances was during stage nine from Pau to Laruns – his first stage win of the Tour. The 22-year-old (then just 21), who weighs in at 65kg, clocked an average 7.03 watts per kilo over the steep final 2.5km of the last big climb of the day, the Col de Marie-blanque, churning out 457 watts.
In terms of the numbers, it was a performance the likes of which has rarely been seen in 10 years of the Tour, says Diegner: “When you look at Pogačar’s performance on the whole climb [he averaged 6.8W/kg], it’s huge. The full 15 minutes at 6.8 – it’s higher than anything we’ve seen in the last five or six years.
“This is real Strava data. When it first came out after stage nine we thought it might be a bit too high from the readings. But then other riders started uploading, and we saw even Sepp Kuss was over six watts per kilogram.”
Unsurprisingly,
Pogačar’s win on the
Grand Colombier was impressive too. He averaged an estimated 397 watts for its 17.15-kilometre duration, for an average of 6.1 watts per kilo for
45.50 minutes. At the other end of the
GC that day Egan
Bernal was cracking, losing more than seven minutes on the stage and slipping from third place to 13th on GC. Nevertheless, his estimated 5.1W/kg
(310 watts) average over the lengthy climb is impressive in anyone’s book and shows how hard he fought to stay in touch.
The time trial is probably the most fertile arena for a straight comparison of numbers, and Pogačar was no less impressive there, as his yellow jersey-winning result suggests.
There were big numbers across the board for the GC contenders, despite them all having raced hard for three weeks, but Pogačar’s were the biggest.
He averaged an estimated 435 watts on the 5.96km Planche des Belles Filles for 6.69W/kg, for 16min 10sec. It was a full 0.19W/kg ahead of Richie Porte, who was third on the day but Pogačar’s closest rival in the power-toweight stakes with an estimated 6.5W/kg and 390 watts.
“For that amount of time at that point in the race I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Diegner of Pogačar’s ride.
“His wattage is higher than anything we’ve seen in years”
Pogačar comes out to play on the Marie Blanque, stage 9.
Pogačar’s estimated VAM (vertical climbing speed in metres per hour) for the last two kilometres of the Pas de Peyrol, stage 13, a measurement Diegner describes as “insane”. “It was the only word I could come up with to properly describe it!” he says.
Stage 17 winner Miguel Angel López’s estimated power over the 21.3km Col de la Loze to the summit finish. Equal to 5.93W/kg for the 59kg rider.
Pogačar’s power to weight on the Peyresourde, stage eight. He recorded an average of 428 watts up the 9.5km climb. Diegner picks this out as Pogacar’s best ride. “He took 40 seconds out of the yellow jersey group and beat the 17-yearold previous record for the climb.”
“Also consider he did 25 minutes of time trialling beforehand, it’s not like he was taking it easy – and then he put that on top.”
Primož Roglič, who was widely judged to have had a shocker of a performance, didn’t actually fare too badly where the numbers were concerned – he still managed to average an estimated 395 watts and 6.25W/kg on the climb.
The numbers in general this year have been well up on previous Tours, says Diegner – a phenomenon he suggests is down to riders carrying less racing fatigue than usual because of the lockdown, as well as training strategies in general becoming more scientific.
With just three months to go to the end of the year there are still lots of miles to be ridden, but the nights are drawing in again and our
More and more riders are completing the challenge and ordering their finisher’s medal. If you haven’t signed up you can still do so. Go to www.cyclingweekly.com/cw5000
Gary Dowthwaite Ian Fraser Jonathan Stein Marcus Mcquillan Paul Todd Matt Dowse Robert Walker Gerry Burnham Philip Allen Andrew Bruans Alan Silver John Peaston Steven Jones Eddy Loftus Lew Lawton Ali Bartlam riding time is becoming ever more precious. We also have to think more about our kit before heading out as the long, warm sunny days are sadly over. The good news is clothing partner dhb is sponsoring this
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October Challenges sponsored by month’s challenges with a prize: one full outfit from the new Flashlight range, including the as-yet unreleased Spectrum jacket. This will be sure to help one lucky challenger take on autumn and keep their miles ticking up.
With less daylight at our disposal our emphasis has moved away from the bigger rides to riding more regularly. Whether or not you’re closing in on 5,000 miles, keep yourself motivated with our monthly challenges and remember that a ride in the bad weather is better than no ride at all.
1. One ride of at least three hours
Not a big challenge for many of our CW5000 riders judging by the miles you’re racking up, but a three-hour ride is still not to be sniffed at, especially as we get to the end of the month. Autumn remains a fantastic time to ride, with a little warmth still in the sun come midday so this should be an easy one.
2. Five days in a row of at least 10 miles
Consistency is key at this time of year, and even a short ride done regularly will help you get your mileage up. We first set you this challenge back in April when the UK was blessed with plenty of spring sunshine. You might not be so lucky in October but getting into the habit of riding regularly will set you up nicely for winter!
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