00:00Who is the strongest cyclist in the world right now?
00:03It would be very easy just to say Tadej Pogaccia, he is the obvious choice, but if you somehow
00:09managed to get all the respective cycling champions in one room all together, who would
00:14actually come out on top?
00:16Well, for a bit of fun, we've been trawling through power numbers to see who is the ultimate
00:21all-round champion of cycling.
00:24A few months ago, I was in Abu Dhabi watching the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships
00:30that were hosted on my whoosh.
00:32As well as some tactical masterclasses, I was absolutely in awe of some of the mind-boggling
00:37power numbers.
00:39And it got me thinking, discipline-specific tactics and teams aside, how would cyclists
00:44from different fields stack up?
00:46Well, to find out, I've been on the hunt for champions that don't mind sharing their
00:50power numbers with varied success.
00:52So let's dive into the numbers.
00:55Well, obviously representing road cycling, we have current world champion Tadej Pogaccia.
01:00He's well-known for his climbing prowess, long-range attacks, and is often touted to be the best
01:05cyclist of all time.
01:07He weighs in at 66 kilos, although this can fluctuate during the race season, and he stands
01:12at 1.76 metres tall.
01:16Representing esports, we have the GOAT of indoor cycling, Jason Osborne.
01:20Not only has he won the cycling esports world champs three times, he also has an Olympic
01:25medal in rowing, and for a while he was teammates on the road with Matteo van der Poel.
01:30He stands at 1.7 metres tall and weighs in at 70 kilos.
01:34And right, before anyone pipes up in the comments about the trustworthiness of indoor training
01:39data, all of this data has come directly from the world champs where they ride on Elite Justo 2
01:46trainers with a wired connection, and that has been tested for at least 200 hours and calibrated by a
01:52tiny, tiny, tiny 0.01%, so just because you cheat when you're online racing, there's no questions
01:59about the legitimacy of these numbers.
02:01Moving on to the velodrome, and we have sprint star Harry Lovreson.
02:05He has five Olympic golds, 14 European track titles, and 20 world championship titles, making
02:12him the most successful track cyclist at world championships of all time.
02:16The former BMX rider is nicknamed The Beast, and according to his Wikipedia page, he weighs
02:22in at 92 kilos and is 1.81 metres tall.
02:26And then representing mountain bikers everywhere is going to be up and coming star Charlie Aldridge,
02:32current British national champ at both cross country and short track, second in the European
02:37champs, and currently ranked fifth in the world.
02:39He stands at 1.84 metres tall and is 78 kilos.
02:43Now, I also wanted to include a BMX champ as well, but we got blanked by Arthur Pillard,
02:49the current world champion, but former junior European champion Ross Cullen was very useful,
02:54and he did let us in on his current sprint PB. So we'll start there, shall we?
02:59So, from his MyRoosh racing data, we can see that over the past few years,
03:03Jason Osborne has maxed out at 1171 watts for a five-second effort.
03:09Exact numbers for Pogaccia are scarce, but most sources predict a maximum five-second power
03:15of between 1100 and 1300 watts. Compared to the other three though,
03:20these two endurance champions are absolutely blown out of the water.
03:25Charlie Aldridge's mountain bike demands and bigger frame allow him to put out a staggering 1790 watts for
03:33five seconds. But Harry Lovreson has been measured putting out a staggering maximum wattage of 2146 watts.
03:44Now, that might not be all too surprising when you look at the size of his thighs though.
03:49However, you might be surprised to hear that top-level BMX riders regularly see those kinds of power
03:54numbers. Ross Cullen's six-second power PB is 2380 watts. Obviously though, not all watts are created equal.
04:03Some riders will have massive torque, others will hit that power at a really high cadence.
04:08And some will still be able to produce it after six hours in the mountains.
04:12Which, for some of the riders mentioned, probably couldn't think of anything worse.
04:18Moving on to one-minute power and the endurance athletes are once again outdone by the bigger
04:22riders. Charlie Aldridge reckons his one-minute power PB is 915 watts, around 200 higher than Pogaccia or
04:30Jason Osborne. At 20 minutes though, Pogaccia and indoor world champ Osborne pull it back.
04:36Despite being around 10 kilos lighter than Aldridge, their famous endurance not only gives them a higher
04:41power to weight, but also an edge in terms of raw numbers too. And then for one hour, wait until
04:47you
04:48hear this number. Jason Osborne has registered an FTP of 466 watts. Now, I'm quite a capable amateur
05:01cyclist...ish. I don't think I could hold that for more than a few minutes. That is absolutely bonkers numbers.
05:08Aldridge comes in with a figure of 430 watts and Pogaccia, well that number is hotly debated. We know that
05:14it's at
05:15least 415 watts, and many people reckon it's closer to 7 watts per kilo in his Tour de France form.
05:22So, who is the strongest? Well, it's safe to say that I wouldn't like to go up against any of
05:27them,
05:27but as far as numbers are concerned, I think that our indoor champ is probably the most surprising.
05:33But could he beat Pogaccia? Well, for a few years he was in the World Tour peloton, but Osborne has
05:38been
05:38very open about saying that the environment just didn't suit him, and he wasn't able to reach the same
05:43potential that he did on his way to Olympic Rowing medals and with his eSports titles.
05:48And I think that's the interesting point, because I think it highlights that however strong you are,
05:54you have to train for your personal goals. It's no good training a really high FTP if you want to
06:00be a
06:00track sprinter, or vice versa. It's no good just training your sprint if you want to be quick up some
06:06hills.
06:06But most of all, there is far more to any cycling discipline than just watts. There's tactics,
06:13there's skill, there's in some cases, there's teams to contend with too. And the reason that these
06:18athletes are the best in the business is because they have absolutely nailed what their disciplines
06:25require from them. So, if you're targeting a big event this year, make sure that you focus on more
06:30than just watts. If you want to get stronger on the bike and you don't know where to start, or
06:35want some
06:35really time efficient training, then I'd recommend checking out My Woosh. It's completely free,
06:40and has a whole host of workouts, sessions, races, and community rides to get you fighting fit.
06:46Let me know how your numbers stack up against the pros in the comments below, and we'll see you next
06:52time.
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