GCN Tech Show: 600 watts for four minutes - the craziest power ever held?

With the dust settling on the first ‘super' World Championships, we saw racing that was tighter than ever. Nowhere was that more obvious than in the men's individual pursuit final between Dan Bigham (Great Britain) and Filippo Ganna (Italy). Over the four-kilometre race the two riders were separated by 0.054 seconds with both riders covering the distance from a standing start in four minutes and two seconds.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Dan Bigham congratulating Filippo Ganna on his victory in the individual pursuit.

This is an incredible feat that we took a look at in more detail in last week's tech show, found here. To ride at almost 60 kph from a standing start takes an incredible amount of power, and this week we look into just how much it takes to claim the World Championship title in this event.

Estimating the power for gold

Unfortunately it is not quite as simple as looking at the power metre files from Ganna’s bike and revealing what it took. Both riders took to the final without any data-collection equipment fitted to their bikes, as this would be added weight and be a little less aerodynamic. With the winning margin so close, these decisions really do matter.

Professor Michael Slawinsk specialises in mathematical modelling at Memorial University in Newfoundland, and he has calculated the output of both riders in the final. So, although we can’t look at the actual physical power data, we can work it out.

Taking into consideration the bike set-up, rider's aero profile, air density, rolling resistance, and quite possibly every other variable that would need to be considered, Prof. Slawinsk then carried out some rather mind-boggling calculations. This gave him with a final figure for the power needed to achieve these blistering times.

He estimated that Ganna rode at a simply unimaginable 606 watts for the four-minute effort, not to mention that is whilst in a very restricting time-trial position that is not the most effective for producing power.

Interestingly, Slawinsk calculated that the man in second place, and only 0.054 seconds behind Ganna, rode at 522 watts. This is a difference of nearly 80 watts to achieve nearly identical times, and it begs the question, how is that possible?

On the surface, this sounds crazy, but there are some key differences that could be attributed to this discrepancy. Firstly, Dan Bigham is 183cm tall, compared to Ganna who is 190cm. Then there's the five-kilo weight difference between them.

If you watch the replay of the race and study the positions of both riders, you can also see that Bigham has a slightly more compact shoulder profile compared to Ganna. All of this adds up to that 80-watt saving! What it does mean though, is that Ganna could potentially go even faster if he could improve his position slightly to mirror Bigham – now that is a scary thought.

Hot tech this week

Canyon release ‘all new’ Endurace

The biggest news to come out of the tech world this week is that Canyon has released an all-new and updated Endurace. This is reported to be the most aero endurance bike Canyon has produced. Not only has the frame been redesigned around a smaller frontal profile and new aerodynamically-optimised tube shapes, but there are some nice new features for an endurance bike.

© Canyon

Canyon's 'all new' Endurace is claimed by Canyon to be the fastest endurance bike that it has made.

Firstly, it has been designed with the ability to accept a 35mm tyre both front and rear, really allowing the Endurace to be a do-it-all, go-anywhere road bike. This really does start to blur the lines between a road bike and a lightweight gravel bike, which is great if you are looking for versatility from your bike.

Secondly, the engineers at Canyon have built into the top tube of the frame a small storage section. This is large enough for a multitool, slimline tyre levers and a C02 inflator, all of which are supplied with the bike.

On-bike storage is a really nifty design feature that we have seen widely adopted in the mountain bike world, but it is a welcome carry-over to the road market. This allows you to ride without the need for a saddle bag and keeps your jersey pockets free for snacks. Now that can't be a bad thing.

British cycling sue Japanese and French cycling federations

There are rumours that British cycling may be filing a lawsuit against both Japanese and French cycling federations. They are claiming that the equipment used by both teams at the recent track World Championships in Glasgow infringed on the copyright of the Hope Lotus track bike used by the British team.

The teams in question were using new design Look and V-IZU track bikes respectively. Both of these new bikes follow the trend of the Hope Lotus bike with very wide stance forks and seatstays. It will be an interesting case to follow as both nations will be intending to use these models at next year's Olympic Games in Paris.

If any of the claims stick and the nations are not permitted to use these bikes, due to other regulations governing equipment, it would be too late to use something new. These regulations list events that equipment has to be used in to qualify for use in next year's Olympic Games, and the last of these dates was the World Championships in Glasgow.

World Championship tech

A lot of new tech was on display at the World Championships with teams debuting new equipment in preparation for the Olympic Games next year. One of the events we saw a lot of new tech being trialled in was in cross country mountain biking.

Pinarello, a name synonymous with road cycling, released a new hardtail bike that both Tom Pidcock and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot rode to bronze and gold medals respectively in the XC short track.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Tom Pidcock riding the unreleased Dogma XC HT at the World Championship short track.

As of yet neither this Dogma HT nor the full suspension version of the Dogma XC is available to purchase, however it does look to be dripping in the latest tech.

The Dogma XC used at the worlds featured Suntour’s electronically damped fork with eight settings from firm to soft. It also features a mountain-bike specific integrated cockpit as well as an SRM power metre at the chainring.

Reynolds black label 46 pro wheels

Our very own Ollie Bridgewood recently took on the Tour des Stations ultimate, a 1000km event though the mountains of Switzerland. We have a bike check video coming out this weekend running through the set-up Ollie used during this monster of a challenge.

One of the components he was very impressed with was the new black label 46 pro wheels from Reynolds. They are incredibly light for a deep-section wheel coming in at just 1397g for the pair and absolutely dripping in aero tech.

Reynolds have put all of their knowledge and expertise into creating these wheels with an aerodynamically optimised rim profile. One key feature is hiding the nipples in the rim to make them even more slippery through the wind. Reynolds have partnered with i9 for the hubs, offering six degrees engagement from a three-pawl hub design. These are some very flashy wheels, if you want to see them in action, check out Ollie’s bike check over the weekend.

​​Want to see your bike featured in the show? Head over to the GCN App to submit a photo. Just remember that Ollie is a stickler for presentation and it could be the difference between a nice or super-nice vote.