It’s prob quite rare, even amongst pros. On the one hand, if strong amateurs can dish out 400+ for 5 mins then obviously some pros can do 500, given the geometric progression in ability as you go up the levels.

But to do this raw wattage you’d need to be a big strong man and almost all pros are sub 80 kg. Stijn VDB and Taylor Phinney are low 80s and look(ed) like giants in the peloton. Outside of the velodrome it might be an unusual physiology to see in road racing.

Can you translate for those of us who aren’t roadies? How much is 500 watts in football pitches?

I don’t know anything about football but in biking terms 500W for anything longer than a minute is absolutely hauling and I think there is some dodgy calibration going on with some of the posts above. I did a lab test (ramp test) a long time ago at peak fitness and managed 484W, peaking just over 500W for the last minute which is ignored in that test. At the time I had FTP of around 350W and although of course a heavier rider than my 63kg would produce more power, I would be surprised if there are more than a handful of riders in the country who can manage 500W for 3 mins and certainly not for 5 mins.

For comparison just over 500W for 3 mins will win you the national hill climb championships https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/dan-evans-national-championship-hill-climb-2014-strava-ride-141454

An absolute machine like Filippo Ganna will manage 500W for 10 minutes but his power output is on a different level to even most of the other pros https://www.strava.com/activities/3567142726/analysis/5290/5871

Quoted for truth. I can’t even do it for a minute (65kg).

500W for anything longer than a minute is absolutely hauling

Quoted for truth. I can’t even do it for a minute (65kg).

If Wattbikes are accurate, I could maybe hold it for five seconds or so.

In recent years 502 is my one minute best, 365 my peak 5 min. 68-73kg depending on beer. Not that close to those numbers this year…349w peak 5 min and about 450w peak 1 min

My numbers are super flat – 400W for 1 min and 300W for 20min. Not even held 500W for 15 secs.

Need to work on my strength! 63kg weakling ;p

Checking my intervals.icu my PB 5min is 482, but it was 502 for about 3m50. I was about 75 at the time. My power trails off pretty quickly though; down to around 340-350 threshold. That’s on about 4-6hrs a week on avg?

I reckon if I was sensible (not going OVER 500W) I could hold 500w for a minute..
Will see as on zwift currently…

Just doing a workout.. Will try after..

DrP

Edit…Ok… about 520w for the 30 second free ride section… yeah… a min will be tough!

Can you translate for those of us who aren’t roadies? How much is 500 watts in football pitches?

It’s approximately the weight of an adult elephant.

Going back to the Coggan’s chart, a straight line across would be a theoretical all-rounder. In fact real riders can’t read straight across, your performance moves around in the rows depending on your particular strengths. Power Profiling

So it is possible for say a track sprinter to have a power output near the top of the left hand column but lower down for the longer durations. That’s why yohandsome’s 700W for 5 minutes guy couldn’t win the TdF.

The correct use of the chart is to test yourself for each of those durations to find your own profile which then tends to indicate where your strengths lie (if you don’t already know).

Someone won a Zwift race I was on recently with an average power of something like 360W. Impressive, but he was listed as 105kg. If you’re all muscle then you will be producing big numbers but it won’t make you a pro because you weight so much.

Making big numbers whilst weighing 65kg is the trick!

That is wrong on so many levels especially when related to *Le* Tour, the dynamics of riding in a team, where stages are won, how the GC is won, how W/kg work, etc, etc but hey 🙂

For a flat, non technical road race, racing as an individual (eg flat TT) then mega Watts regardless of weight is a huge advantage but the less powerful lighter rider *could* also still be faster due to being more aero. Whatever scenario you dream up total power never trumps everything regardless of all other factors. You can take your argument further to say people focus too much on power and fitness as the only judge of progress or success is race results and that is all anyone should focus on 😉

Let’s say the avg gradient of de tour is 2.5%, then for each 10 kgs weight loss a rider has to do 5% less work. A 60 kg rider would need to do 20% less work than our 100 kg beast, to best him they would need a 450W FTP.

The beast’s watts pr kg is still just a meager 5.6, whereas the 450W FTP 60 kg climbing god would need to hit 7.5 watts pr kg to beat him.

Watts pr kg only makes a big difference on steep hills and is a silly way to compare riders’ capabilities outside of pure hill climbing.

The maths there might be right, I haven’t checked.

But that’s not how a grand tour is raced. It isn’t a few hundred km of a gradual slope.

The flat sections are dominated by riding in a peloton where on,y those on the front are working. Those drafting are saving energy & trying to avoid silly crashes taking them out or losing them time.

Unless it’s a cross tail wind when it’s chaos & fascinating to watch.

Rarely is much time made between favourites on the flat stages.

The TTs have some relevance to the data above, but really they’re down to aero not power output alone.

Then there’s the hills – the steepest bits ridden at the slowest speeds and with least aero benefit from drafting have a disproportionate affect on the outcome, and that *is* down to w/kg and to the ability to recover.

I reckon I could nail 500 wotsits in 5 minutes, easy.

Let’s say the avg gradient of de tour is 2.5%, then for each 10 kgs weight loss a rider has to do 5% less work. A 60 kg rider would need to do 20% less work than our 100 kg beast, to

Why 5% less & 20% less?

I’m very average club rider but heavier at 90kg and short surges is what I’m best at
Managed 500w for 2:24 in the last couple of weeks
5 min power was 420 but that’s not max as 10 min power was similar
These were indoor rides on a Kickr