Last Saturday (September 27), the Women's World Championship road race took place in Varese, Italy. The race was 8 laps of a 17.35 km course for a total race distance of 138.8 kilometers. CycleOps Powered athlete Nikki Egyed rode for Australia and was extremely active throughout the race.
Nikki reports, "…was in a break that went on the second climb and stayed away until the 2nd last climb (about 120 km). On the 3rd-last climb the bunch was catching, and I attacked solo just after halfway on the longer climb and stayed away until half way on the 2nd last climb when Vos, Cooke etc [Marianne Vos (Netherlands), Nicole Cooke (Great Britain), Judith Arndt and Trixi Worrack (both Germany), and Emma Johansson and Susanne Ljungskog (both Sweden)] came by very fast….I almost got on the back of them (which I am still a little disappointed that I didn’t!) but had to settle for the next group (minus the 6 up the front)."
Let's compare several key metrics from the race...
|
whole race |
lap 1 |
lap 2 |
lap 7 |
lap 8 |
| avg speed (km/hr) |
36.94 |
38.71 |
38.36 |
36.92 |
37.07 |
| avg hr (bpm) |
163 |
162 |
166 |
165 |
166 |
| avg power (watts) |
200 |
216 |
206 |
214 |
203 |
| watts/kg |
3.56 |
3.84 |
3.67 |
3.81 |
3.61 |
| max power (watts) |
815 |
777 |
709 |
815 |
681 |
| watts/kg |
14.50 |
13.83 |
12.62 |
14.50 |
12.12 |
| Peak Power Values |
|
|
|
|
| 5 sec (watts) |
676 |
640 |
551 |
676 |
568 |
| watts/kg |
12.03 |
11.39 |
9.80 |
12.03 |
10.11 |
| 30 sec (watts) |
439 |
439 |
417 |
435 |
400 |
| watts/kg |
7.81 |
7.81 |
7.42 |
7.74 |
7.12 |
| 1 min (watts) |
411 |
409 |
365 |
382 |
338 |
| watts/kg |
7.31 |
7.28 |
6.49 |
6.80 |
6.01 |
| 5 min (watts) |
324 |
324 |
303 |
301 |
287 |
| watts/kg |
5.77 |
5.77 |
5.39 |
5.36 |
5.11 |
| 10 min (watts) |
276 |
272 |
257 |
276 |
245 |
| watts/kg |
4.91 |
4.84 |
4.57 |
4.91 |
4.36 |
During lap 1, Nikki either achieved, or came close to achieving her best 5 second, 30 second, 1 minute, 5 minute, and 10 minute peak power output for the race. These high power outputs may be explained by the fact that Nikki was active in trying to make the initial break of the race.
Though she was successful in joining the lead break of 12 that stayed away for the majority of the race, the group was caught with less than 2 laps to go in the 8-lap race.
Nikki's maximum power output and her peak 5-second power output during the race came during the 7th lap when she attacked to break free of the main group that had just caught her and her breakaway companions. When what would be the winning move by Marianne Vos from Netherlands came by her, she again surged to jump on the back of the 6-women group. However, the 6 breakaway women had the advantage of fresh legs as they had sat in the field for most of the race, and Nikki's legs did not have quite enough left to stay with the fast-charging women.
It is a good indicator of Nikki's great race fitness that she was able to throw down her maximum power output during the race so late in the world-class event. Equally as impressive was the fact that she also achieved her best 10 minute peak power output of the race during that 7th lap.
Nikki reflects: "I am happy with my ride--I rode as to our team tactics and felt really strong, but I have to admit I am a little unhappy not to have the result I would have liked." However, after such a strong performance, her teammate and veteran racer Oenone Wood told cyclingnews.com reporters: "It didn't work out today but I think for next year, she can take confidence from that knowing that she can be competitive with the top level of women's cycling."
CycleOps Power congratulates Nikki on a fantastic ride and looks forward to following her racing career.