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Laurens ten Dam's Tour de France on Stravalaurens ten dam strava 3

Laurens ten Dam's Tour de France on Strava

Following the Belkin rider on Strava reveals the sheer scale of the speed of the professionals
by David Arthur @davearthur
Tue, Jul 09, 2013 09:12
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On Saturday, Team Belkin’s Laurens ten Dam rode to fifth place on stage eight of the Tour de France, while Chris Froome scarpered up the road alone for the stage victory. That in itself isn’t the interesting bit. I’ve been following Laurens on Strava for the last year, so when I saw Laurens finish so highly, I immediately logged on to take a look at his ride and give him some ‘kudos’.

So did 2,146 other people. With 1547 comments, his ride certainly attracted some attention on Strava. The details for that stage include a 37.6km/h average speed, 92.2km/h max speed, and an average power of 379 watts.

Now, I know there are a lot of people who hate Strava, but with access to information such as this it pulls away the veil of secrecy that has always covered pro cyclists' performances in races like the Tour de France. In an era when transparency is key to moving forward and leaving the problems of doping in the past, being able to view and analyse a ride in such detail as Strava offers must be seen as a positive step forward.

See Laurens ten Dam on Strava here. And you can see Saturday's ride, titled simply 'hard day' right here.

Tour de France
Strava
Laruens ten Dams
David Arthur @davearthur

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes. 

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8 comments

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maryka | 11 years ago
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Just to correct the article, if there's no "lightning bolt" next to the ride, then the power is Strava-calculated, not real. So 379w is not a useful stat for that ride as it assumes he was riding solo, doesn't take into account the wind, etc.

Ten Dam rides with power in training and often posts those rides, but this particular ride does not include his data from his powermeter.

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pedalpowerDC | 11 years ago
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Now that Ted King is outta the race, I had to follow LTD to get the Strava deets.

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CornishSprinter | 11 years ago
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Guys!

Jeremy Roy of FDJ and Thomas De Gendt are also strava'ing all their rides!

http://app.strava.com/athletes/1855274

http://app.strava.com/athletes/1655561

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dave atkinson | 11 years ago
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510's nice and light and he doesn't really need a map 1

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badback replied to dave atkinson | 11 years ago
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Dave Atkinson wrote:

510's nice and light and he doesn't really need a map 1

That's why I use a 200. (or is it because I'm a skint tight arsed northerner !) 39 3

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badback | 11 years ago
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Funnily enough I was looking at Dan Martin's winning ride on Garmin connect: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/339429962

Three things struck me about Dan the Mans data - the max speed 63.8 mph, he's not using the pimpiest model of Garmin (a 510) and that 105 miles and 13200 ft of uppage at 21.6 mph is a damn sight quicker than my pedestrian pace !

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TeamCC replied to badback | 11 years ago
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badback wrote:

Funnily enough I was looking at Dan Martin's winning ride on Garmin connect: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/339429962

Three things struck me about Dan the Mans data - the max speed 63.8 mph, he's not using the pimpiest model of Garmin (a 510) and that 105 miles and 13200 ft of uppage at 21.6 mph is a damn sight quicker than my pedestrian pace !

On Google Chrome I have the Dictionary of Numbers app that helps explain numbers (usually large ones) in different formats to get a better understanding over the information. I liked what it said about your comment:

...63.8 mph [≈ sailfish —fastest fish], he's not using the pimpiest model of Garmin (a 510) and that 105 miles [≈ length of the Suez Canal] and 13200 ft of uppage at 21.6 mph [≈ Top speed of a running cat or dog.]

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mrchrispy | 11 years ago
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the garmin squad are...wait for it....on garmin connect.
not all the rides are there but enough, the numbers make me feel fat and slow!! 13

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