While events concerning the yellow jersey overshadowed the actual stage results on Mont Ventoux, Thomas de Gendt rode superbly to win stage 12 of the 2016 Tour de France.
And the Belgian has shared his ride to Strava to highlight the numbers behind a ride which puts him into the polka dot jersey as King of the Mountains leader.
Riding in the 13-strong breakaway with team-mate Andre Greipel, De Gendt then powered clear on Mont Ventoux, on the road to Chalet Reynard.
A former Giro d’Italia stage winner on the Stelvio, De Gendt had to come back strong when he was dropped by Serge Pauwels and Daniel Navarro, but did exactly that to claim another famous stage win.
De Gendt, using a SRM PowerControl 8 to record his power output, finished the stage with an average power of 289 watts and a cadence of 86rpm.
On the climb from St.Esteve to Chalet Reynard, that power output increased to 390 watts as he climbed at an average speed of 17km/h to record a time of 30:40 for the 8.7km ascent. De Gendt’s maximum power for the stage? 1,046 watts. He also recorded an average heart rate of 134 beats per minute and a maximum of 175, while the Dutchman’s average speed for the 121-mile stage was 38.0km/h, with a maximum of 83.2km/h.
De Gendt’s time, while enough to win the stage, was actual the fourth fastest uploaded to Strava on the day – Romain Bardet is the proud new holder of the Strava KOM having raced up in the GC group in 28:56.
Unfortunately none of Bardet, Sebastien Reichenbach (FDJ) or Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) – who all climbed faster than De Gendt – have uploaded their power data, however.
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