Originally Posted by
Enthalpic
It would be interesting to see some sprint and podium finish power files from some of you. Why debate opinion if we can see a consistent curve shape in race files? Personally, I am uninterested training sprints or sprints for 12th place.
I haven't had an official race sprint with a power meter yet, but I won the city limits sprint on the Austin Tri Cyclist ride against a bunch of 2s and 3s (end of December). It was all-out, and my 5s power was only 960W. It's over the top of a 1-minute attack-fest hill though.
First, I latched on to an attack, which was about as hard as the sprint. Then I held over 500W for about 20s as I settled into the draft. Another guy attacked from behind, so I had to go before he got around me.
So, we all know that reproducing best efforts isn't possible or necessary in races. Everyone is going to be capable of some % of their best sprint power at the end of the race, depending on how they got there. Having a higher max to take a % of is going to help.