The 2021 Il Lombardia marked a historic moment for Tadej Pogačar, as he claimed another Monument title as the reigning Tour de France champion - but what does Strava tell us about the performances?
Strava, the hugely popular social media platform for athletes, lets both amateurs and pros track their stats and share them with the wider world, offering cycling fans a unique insight into the performances of the biggest riders in the world.
While Pogačar claimed the title, sadly he doesn’t share his power data on Strava, but we also saw stand-out performances from the likes of Fausto Masnada, Mike Woods, and Remco Evenepoel in the closing kilometres of the 239km climbers’ race.
It was the penultimate climb of the race, the Passo di Ganda, where Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) made his move, taking the Strava KoM on the way to his victory.
Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) climbed the 9.4km-long pass in 23-12, with an average speed of 24.4km/h on the seven per cent average gradient.
Strava times from the Passo di Ganda
(Image credit: Strava)
Mike Woods (Israel-Start-Up Nation), was the next quickest rider on Strava while back in the chasing group, climbing 30 seconds slower than the Slovenian.
Woods pushed 365w for the 23-43 he was on the climb, which is an estimated 5.7w/kg.
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He was followed by Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), just two seconds lower but with an enormous 387w for his effort on the climb (estimated 6.3w/kg).
Masnada, who would eventually bridge across to Pogačar in the final only to be beaten into second place in the sprint, put out 395w to set the fourth fastest time on the climb, which is an estimate 6w/kg.
The final climb of the race was the 1.3km-long Coll Aperto, which averages seven per cent gradient and topped out 4km from the finish.
But the speeds were not the fastest in this year’s edition of the race, as Vincenzo Nibali’s KoM from the 2017 edition (which he won), remained as he set a time of 2-40 on the short and punchy climb.
The fastest riders in this year’s race were Tadej Pogačar and Fausto Masnada with a time of 3-03, with Masnada holding an average power of 428w.
For his second-place finish, Masnada averaged 306w normalised power for six hours, covering 4,400m of elevation gain.
To compare, Mike Woods pushed 284w normalised, to finish in ninth place, Valverde holding 296w weighted power for a fifth place result.
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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.
