This is not really a club related post but it may be of interest.
A certain Ivan Basso’s has recently returned to the peleton and after his recent 3rd placing in the Japan Cup, behind Cunego, one has to of course wonder if the man is as clean as he says he is. While I’m of the opinion that drug cheats should be banned for life, I also like to look at the other point of view. So I did a little digging.
With the help of the Mapei training laboratory, it’s now possbile to view Mr. Basso’s training data.
Unfortunately I DID wonder whether they are really his real results. This is the depth of my cynicism these days.
ANYWAY..to cut a long story short, his last workout before the Japan cup consisted of a 6h15 /200km spin with 8 intervals up a 6% climb.
For those interested in the number:
Total workout of 6h15 @ normalise power of 298w.
First interval of 30min @ NP of 340w
Thereafter average NP per interval of 6min30 (presumably up the climb) was in the region of 430watts.
With an estimated FTP @ around 400 (and 70kg weight) that would give him a value of ~5.7w/kg.
Pretty close to the magic number required to win Le Tour (if he were allowed to ride it!) and not bad for an end of year figure.
So..while the top boys MAY be winning via shady means, it still requires a LOT of dedication to even get close to that level.
I thought it might provide some motivation for those of us who will be dusting off the indoor trainer soon……..