Originally Posted by
Jughed
Is 6w/kg limited to world class athletes? I would imagine what separates world class athletes from regular athletes is their ability to make 6w/kg at the end of a 150 mile stage or 2 weeks into a grand tour. And bike handling skills, and the fact they were discovered at a young age - right place right time type of thing.
You are pulling riders from around the world, CAT I/II crit riders, tri athletes, track athletes - that is a huge pool of people. I'm sure there are plenty from those groups that can crack high power levels for short races.
I took it that he meant guys riding at a sustained 6 W/kg for more than just a minute or two. For example some random guy riding at 6 W/kg all the way up AdZ is hard to take seriously. I still see this sort of thing occasionally, but not too often. Most riders on Zwift these days seem fairly credible in terms of W/kg numbers. Obviously impossible to know if they are being honest about their true weight. A 100 kg guy with average power could easily emulate an elite 65 kg rider on Zwift without raising any red flags in ordinary Zwift races. Does anyone care though? I doubt it given the anonymity at that level.