Professional Cycling For the Fans - US Postal Team Uphill fast Tempo/How Fast?

On the two hardest climbs of last week, where only Lance an d Basso were mano a mano, how fast was fast ???

Does anybody know how fast was the tempo of the "Blue Train" up the moutains and then how fast both riders (Lance and Basso) were going the last 2 km????

Corsaire

No one on this forum can tell?

How about you "know it all" bikers/dudes?

I'm newbie on the Tour de France so is hard for me to tell, but I'll be bold and say: maybe 11 mph uphill ?

Corsaire

The gradients vary on a climb...
So anywhere between 8-20mph.

Why don't you clock the amount of time it took them to go one kilometre?
Probably around 10-13mph.

The gradients vary on a climb...
So anywhere between 8-20mph.

Why don't you clock the amount of time it took them to go one kilometre?
Probably around 10-13mph.


exactly. run the stopwatch over one of the final kilometres and work it out yourself.

Every climb is different, and every km on every climb is different, so you can't say "Lance climbs every col at 25kmh"....you'll need to time a section of road.

No need to be precise, I was just wondering AVERAGE on a climb like that, on an event of that magnitude like the TDF.
Just like when people say, riders on a TDF can go on the flats in excess of 30 mph, etc...
Corsaire

g'day,

you can have a bit of fun with climbs & gradients etc at http://www.cycle2max.com/
You can enter your own climbs & it will calculate things like gredients etc...interesting comparisons with other cyclists on the same hills,

cheers,

hitchy

they go up the cols like how mere mortals go on flats - fast enough for you to pedal your legs off!

Mayo ascended Ventoux in 55:51 at an average speed of 23.202 kph (14.41 mph). Vaughters’ old record was 56:50 at 22.8 kph (14.16 mph). I don’t think Vaughters did it during a time trial though, so after so many miles of racing, he was still able to keep that pace. Sorry I don’t have the profile, but it gives you a rough idea of how fast these guys are.

Here's some background information (from the German 'Tour' magazine) for stage 16, the individual time trial on Alpe d'Huez. Thiswill help you appreciate the hardships of fast and furious climbing:

PARCOURS
Length: 15,5km
Altimetres: 1.130
Average gradient: 7,8% (steepest 12% sections in the first few km's; pro's apparently ride some of the flatter parts and the finale on the big ring)

PALMARES
Pantani (1997; rider 56kg, bike 8kg): 38:01; 23,1km/h - 7,1watt/kg
Armstrong (2001; rider 71kg, bike 7,5kg): 38:01; 22,9km/h - 6,7watt/kg
Ullrich (1997; rider 73kg, bike 8,5kg): 38:22; 22,7km/h - 6,6watt/kg
Indurain (1991; rider 78kg, bike 11kg): 39:45; 21,9km/h - 6,4watt/kg

PERFORMANCE
'Tour' also gives a formula for calculating one's uphill performance (they say it's only accurate for speeds below 15kph--which is quite fast in my book; more detailed calculations are at http://www.2peak.com/):

Performance (in WATT)=[[complete bike weight (including bottles, spares, etc., in kg)+complete rider weight (including clothing, etc., in kg)] x [height difference, in metres] x [10,99]] / [time, in seconds]

Hitchy,

G'day.
Thanks for the link pretty neat site.

Marty

Vaughters’ old record was 56:50 at 22.8 kph (14.16 mph). I don’t think Vaughters did it during a time trial though, so after so many miles of racing, he was still able to keep that pace.

That was a time trial in the 1999 Dauphine

That was a time trial in the 1999 Dauphine
Well then nevermind, I had gotten that from another forum which made it sound like it was a mountain finish during one of the stages. Sorry.