Pedersen, known for his sprinting prowess, hauled himself over the Col de Montsegur with the break and then outkicked everyone from the final corner.
Pedersen made the break of 34 riders that climbed the Montsegur (9.8 km, 520 m of climbing from the Fougax side) in 20:47 to 21:00. For Pedersen to crest with the break at ~21:00, our model puts him at roughly 430 W, or 5.7 W/kg at his size. That is well under our 7.6 W/kg prediction: with the peloton conceding minutes, the break never had to go full gas, and the stage came down to the sprint.
For the sprint: we timed the video replay, and Mads went all-out from the last corner, about 300 m from the line, sprinting for 16 seconds at up to 70 km/h on the slightly downhill finish straight at roughly 1,350 W, or about 18 W/kg: the biggest raw power of the Tour so far.
1 · The Terrain & Who Wins
A punchy, rolling day decided on the late climb of Col de Montsegur (6.9 km @ 6.6%). Suits a strong breakaway or an explosive finisher who can hurt people on a short, steep ramp.
Rider type: Puncheurs & breakaway specialists
2 · The Watts/kg It Takes to Win
An estimated ~502 W held for ~18 min (vo2 max).
3 · Three Favorites
- 1Ben Healy
- 2Quinn Simmons
- 3Tom Pidcock
4 · Train These Watts — Copy This Into CoachCat
What that workout looks like (2 x 10 min at Zone 4 threshold, then Zone 2 with a 5-second max effort sprint):
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