If you went down to London last weekend, you may have seen a cyclist or two. The annual RideLondon festival drew hundreds of thousands to the nation’s capital, including big names like Chris Froome. With new app Velon showing fans key performance data for the pros, you can compare your own numbers against the best in the business.
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The men’s RideLondon Classic was won last Sunday by Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep), who chased down solo breakaway Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) for a dramatic win on The Mall. The race followed largely the same route as the amateurs’ RideLondon-Surrey 100 sportive the same weekend, finishing on the Mall, but with some extra loops around the hills of Surrey thrown in. You can find the full maps here.
Prudential RideLondon Classic 2016: on-board highlights
Velon was formed by 11 pro cycling teams including Team Sky and Etixx-QuickStep, with the aim of bringing fans closer to the action. For RideLondon Classic, two tracking devices were carried by each Velon team to share vital data such as rider heart rate, power, speed, cadence and acceleration. This data was available in real time on the Velon app. Plus, one rider from each Velon team carried a GoPro camera to capture the action from inside a race.
3 data screenshots from the RideLondon Classic
Here are three moments from the pros’ RideLondon Classic race, with performance data of key protagonists. So whether you took part in the RideLondon-Surrey 100 or you just ride regularly on these roads, take a look and see how you compare.
1. Start, central London
The Mall in central London was where this year’s RideLondon Classic began for the pros, and where the RideLondon-Surrey 100 sportive finished for the amateurs. Velon reports that Team Sky’s Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas reached 51kph and 50.4kph respectively in central London, with Froome putting out nearly 300 watts and Thomas 200 watts.
2. 35km, Weybridge
The peloton wound eastwards into Surrey, passing the leafy town of Weybridge. The pace clearly wasn’t troubling Geraint Thomas, whose heart-rate monitor reported that he was ticking along at around 120bpm. The Team Sky man clearly felt good, because he would soon launch a powerful attack on Ranmore Common. Tom Boonen meanwhile was putting out around 280 watts by this point.
3. 100km, Ranmore Common
By this point in the race, the riders had climbed Leith Hill and Ranmore Common, and were now heading towards Westcott. Tom Boonen was still in the lead group, riding at 38kph with a cadence of 102rpm, pushing out around 400 watts. His Etixx-Quickstep teammate Stijn Vandenbergh was riding at a similar pace of 41kph, but at a much slower cadence of 74rpm, and pushing out over 500 watts.
Lotto-Soudal riders Jürgen Roelandts and Kris Boeckmans were also in the lead group, riding at 66kph and 60kph respectively. Roelandts was spinning at 97rpm cadence, putting out well over 600 watts. Beckman was spinning at 101rpm, producing over 700 watts and his heart rate was around 160bpm.