The classic British opening race took place last Sunday. It finished in classic form. A British Conti team turned up and took a 1-2-3, with a few surprise names taking spots in the top 5.
Perfs is always a hard race. It’s less than 2h long, the weather is always cold and wet (even when the forecast is dry), and everyone on the start line is keen and positive to put their winter training to the test.
Let’s look at some juicy data from the race. Using some technological magic tricks, l’ve got ~3years worth of race files from ~30-40 riders so you can trust the insights are now more accurate than previously just looking at one or two specific riders.
How hard was it compared to previous years?
Av Top 10 vs 2022 Top 10
TOP 10 AV // 2022 Total kj: 1919.42 kj // 2024.11 kj kj above NP: 1222.45 kj // 1261.8 kj NP: 333.49 w // 364.25 w bursts: 111 // 99 peak3min: 420.39 w // 463.44w peak20min: 312.37 w // 355.82w peak90min: 289.14 w // 316.18w
Yeah it was pretty hard, compare that to your average National B race and its a good 30-40w higher across the board. Which makes sense when you look at the start list, I doubt you’ll see such a strong line up till the first Nat A of the year.
Its worth pointing out that 1200kj above normalised (360w) is a lot. In such a short race. Thats almost an hour at 400w (1400kj/h).
I had a couple of guys in the race, they’ve both had great winters and have come out flying! I expect both of them to raise some eyebrows this season but they are lacking that raw power seen at the front end of this race. Some of that can be down to not being in the break and therefore not needing to put out any sustained effort while in the bunch.
Our riders numbers are in line with top 10 in last years edition. I think it bodes very well for National B results this season.
Any learning points from this data?
I dont think there is too much to take out of one race, but we now have a good idea of what the front of the best UK races will be like. I can see 360NP being the kind of effort needed for crucial 2h periods in the Nat A’s. And the St Piran lads can expect to be doing that for 3-4h to be in with a shout of winning on the continent.
For my guys they now have a benchmark we can focus towards. They both took a lot more from the race than just some power data.
Next time I’ll try and hone in on a few key points in the race using the GPS and timing data.