It’s that time of the year again – the moment Chris Froome unleashes his superhuman training efforts on the world by posting his rides on Strava.
Last January, Froome opened the year with a massive collection of kilometres, racking up 4,000km in January alone.
At the end of the month, he set out for a six-hour blast from his home just north of Johannesburg and covered a staggering 271km, which he then titled ‘empty the tank’ on Strava.
Froome has now uploaded his first Strava ride of 2019, and it’s another epic effort.
This time the Team Sky star set out with Italian team-mate Salvatore Puccio for a 225km blast around the eastern edge of South Africa.
Over the six-hour ride, the Brit averaged 34.5km/h, and hit a max speed of 78.1km/h, with a whopping 6,000 metres of climbing.
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Froome appears to have kept data from his power meter firmly under wraps, but Strava estimates he maxxed out at 1,300watts and averaged 298w over the duration.
Surprisingly, Froome didn't scoop any KoMs out on the ride, but Puccio did managed to top the leaderboard on three segments.
Their route covered nine categorised segments, including the R533 Climb -7.26km at seven per cent – and Kowyn’s pass uphill, 8km at six per cent average.
Last January, Froome treated his fans by uploading his January training miles to the social media app for athletes, letting cycling followers see exactly how much training it takes to win Grand Tours.
As you would expect from a man targeting both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France last year, there were some pretty monstrous base miles, with Froome kicking off the year with a 32-hour week in which he rode more than 1,000km.
So far in 2019 he has only uploaded the one ride, titled ‘African Experience for Salva’ – short for Salvatore.
Puccio may not have enjoyed the ride quite as much as Froome, as he posted the ride with the title ‘Killed by Froomey, season is over.’
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Alex Ballinger is editor of BikeBiz magazine, the leading publication for the UK cycle industry, and is the former digital news editor for CyclingWeekly.com. After gaining experience in local newsrooms, national newspapers and in digital journalism, Alex found his calling in cycling, first as a reporter, then as news editor responsible for Cycling Weekly's online news output, and now as the editor of BikeBiz. Since pro cycling first captured his heart during the 2010 Tour de France (specifically the Contador-Schleck battle) Alex covered three Tours de France, multiple editions of the Tour of Britain, and the World Championships, while both writing and video presenting for Cycling Weekly. He also specialises in fitness writing, often throwing himself into the deep end to help readers improve their own power numbers. Away from the desk, Alex can be found racing time trials, riding BMX and mountain bikes, or exploring off-road on his gravel bike. He’s also an avid gamer, and can usually be found buried in an eclectic selection of books.
