Team principal Dave Brailsford and head of performance Tim Kerrison shared the data with media during the Tour's second rest day in Gap. The data covers the last 15.3km of the stage, which Kerrison said was a 41m30 effort.
The full climb Time: 41:28 Average power: 414w VAM: 1602 Chris's weight: 67.5kg Corrected power/weight for the whole climb: 5.78w/kg
Kerrison highlighted that Froome's power-to-weight had been corrected as power meters over-report power by approximately 6 per cent When used in conjunction with osymetric chainrings. The above figure of 5.78 w/kg is corrected to take this into account. Without making this correction, the power/weight would be 6.13w/kg. All other power values stated are the actual reported power values.
Froome's average heart rate for the climb was 158, with a maximum of 174. Kerrison remarked that this was a very high heart rate for Chris suggesting that he has reached the second week of the Tour/bottom of the climb in a relatively fresh state". Froome's average cadence was 97rpm throughout the climb. For the equipment geeks out there, Froome used a 52-38 front chainring and an 11-28 cassette
The attack Duration: 24s Average Power: 556w Peak power: 929w 10s power: 652w Average Cadence: 102rpm Average Speed: 25.3kph Maximum Speed: 27.7kph Power for the 4 minutes before the attack: 449w (18.2kph, 1777VAM, 9.8% gradient, 94 rpm) Power for the 4 minutes after the attack: 435w (20.4kph, 1718VAM, 8.4% gradient, 103 rpm)
Kerrison added that this type of performance isn't out of the ordinary for Froome, with the rider having exceeded these performances several times over the last few years.
“For sure there’s a limit to human capabilities, although I’m not sure what the process would be to define that line,” said Kerrison. “Human performances evolve and we’ll all be sitting here in 30 years thinking this wasn’t that remarkable.”
The release of data follows a week of speculation over the source of Froome's supremacy, as well as accusations by French doctor of physiology Pierre Sallet that Froome's power-to-weight was 7.04w/kg - a figure generally accepted as indicative of doping. Brailsford said Sallet's calculations had been wildly wrong.
"We thought we'd give people concrete numbers and facts. We’re not going to get caught up in endless debate," said Brailsford. "We’ll give you info, carry on racing and then address it after the Tour if necessary."
Brailsford also called for the UCI to set up a 'power passport' programme for leading teams in order to improve transparency around riders' performances.
“Ultimately I can’t see why any team would have a problem with divulging all of their power data to a set of independent experts," said Brailsford.
“Then you can get longitudinal data and over a period of time give everybody a better picture of the overall situation. That is the obvious way to go. We invest in anti-doping already, all the teams. And I’m sure we’d be willing to invest a little bit more to resolve these situations.”
