BURGHARDT WINS TOUR STAGE & Shares His SRM Power Data
24 July 2008St. Etienne, France, 4 July 2008 - A powerful acceleration gave Marcus Burghardt his first victory of the 2008 season and Columbia’s fifth stage win in the 2008 Tour de France. At the end of a long break, the German comfortably outpowered Spaniard Carlos Barredo in a two-way battle for a convincing stage victory at St. Etienne. For Tour de France fans this is an especially compelling win since Burghardt has also shared his SRM power file with TrainingPeaks for all to see.“I’ve done some track riding in the past and in a finish like today’s that was specially important.” Burghardt said. “I never imagined it could come in useful in the Tour de France!” To see video footage of Burghardt earlier on in the race discussing how the Tour compares with other races, click here, and to see footage of the start of his winning stage in Bourg d’Oisans click here.
In fact, Burghardt’s track cycling background probably did come in useful as he averaged 1108 watts for the final 12 seconds of the race, and maxed out at 1391 watts to take the victory. To view and download Burghardt’s WKO+ power file click here.
Last 2-minutes of Burghardt’s race.
“I went in one move early on, then in another after Carlos had gone because I really wanted to get in a break today. We both went for the sprint at the same time and I turned out to be the strongest.”
Already the winner of Ghent-Wevelgem in 2007, Burghardt said “My team said I had to help Mark [Cavendish] and Kim [Kirchen] in the first week, but that I would have a chance to go in the breaks in the third. And that’s what’s happened.”
“My spring was very difficult because I had problems training in California [at the pre-season training camp] because of my knee injuries. It became inevitable that I would have an operation. Things got better afterwards and thanks to my team giving me lots of support here I am.”
During the break “Barredo said he wouldn’t work because he wasn’t as good as me in the final sprints and he tried to attack from behind. But I was always very focused on him so he couldn’t get away.”
Asked if he had lifted his arms in victory too early, Burghardt said “I was sure that I had enough of an advantage and I was very happy to have won a Tour stage considering it’s just the second time I’ve taken part in the race.”
Race Analysis by Hunter Allen
- Read analysis like the following from every day of the Tour at www.TrainingPeaks.com/tourdefrance2008
18th stage TDF WINNER!!!!
This is it! What it takes to win a stage in the Tour!
Marcus did a phenomenal job today and was super aggressive and obviously wanted it bad. He was in the initial breakaway, but then that was caught and then he escaped again wth Feillu, only to drop Feillu on the Col De Parmenie. He caught Barredo on the descent and the two worked well together to the finish which was a 2hours and 52 minute effort with a normalized power of 309 watts. With 10k to go, the excitement started with Barredo attacking on the last climb the Cote de Sorbiers. Markus repeatedly answered those attacks with huge 1300-1500 peak watt efforts and averages between 700-900 watts. Markus fires off his own attack, but Barredo was able to bring him back.
In the final sprint, Markus achieved his Peak 5 second wattage for the day with a 1347 watt effort and the entire final sprint lasted 16 seconds for an average of 958 watts. That is a SERIOUS sprint! A very impressive one indeed, especially after all the attacks that Barredo made and also having been in the breakaway(both of them!) for nearly 4 hours of a 4 hours 30 minutes stage.
Congratulations Marcus!
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