Andre Greipel’s stage five-winning Strava ride shows how the Gorilla dropped the hammer on the final straight to power clear of his sprinting rivals and claim victory.
Greipel is one of a number of riders uploading their rides to Strava through the Tour de France, and the German’s stats for stage five show just how brutal a day it was in the wind.
Andre Greipel exploded into action on the final straight. His average speed of 55km/h hides the fact he rode in the wheels until he had rounded the final bend (pic: Strava)
When it came to the sharp end, however, an average speed of 55.2km/h and a burst of acceleration which saw Strava record him touching the 70km/h mark was enough to gift Greipel a second victory.
Strava’s new Flyby tool also shows how he waited to pounce and, indeed, he was tucked in the peloton – albeit at the front – until the hammer dropped in the final 300m or so.
The Flyby tool also shows just how difficult a day it was in the saddle, despite the relatively flat profile of the stage – with headwinds and skiddy surfaces making for a nervous bunch and a slow average speed overall.
Greipel averaged 39.7km/h for the stage, while Alex Dowsett – struggling with the effects of an injury sustained on stage six – rolled in with the grupetto, with an average of 38km/h for the 196km stage.
The German had to work throughout the stage to stay near the front, with the effect of Etixx-QuickStep and BMC Racing riding hard on the open stretches of road on the Somme showing.
Once the elastic had snapped in the peloton, the back group can be seen to have been distanced further and further.
And it wasn’t just the winds causing splits – a relatively late crash caught Strava user Steven Kruijswijk out at just the wrong time.
With the peloton finally in full flow – the ANZAC Road segment which followed being the fastest of the stage, taken at an average speed of 63.3km/h according to Greipel’s SRM PowerControl 8 bike computer – Kruijswijk is quickly distanced.
Other riders caught up in the crash include MTN-Qhubeka’s Reinardt and Jacques Janse van Rensburg, and their efforts to shuttle Edvald Boasson Hagen back to the front saw them touch an average speed of 70km/h for the segment according to Strava.
Ultimately, though, it came down to the final sprint and with Greipel exploding into action on the final straight to beat Mark Cavendish, the data confirms what we already knew – it was seriously fast.
