boo-yaa Boonen!

peterpen

from Cyclingnews: ..."Power output is all-important for cyclists, and Boonen is impressive in this department. "We give all our riders the same test," said Hespel. "They start to pedal at 100 Watts, which is easy for them. Every eight minutes, it increases by 40 Watts. Tom can do it up to 460 Watts after an hour and a half. That means that he has ridden for eight minutes at 420 Watts before that, and eight minutes at 380 Watts before that. You should try that one time on your home trainer. We've never seen that here. Museeuw was a fantastic athlete, but on a pure physical level, Tom is a bigger talent."

When Boonen gives it full gas in a sprint, he can put out 1600 Watts at 110 rpm. That's typical of a top road sprinter, of which there are very few in the world. "That's huge. Because of that, he has broken several frames. Remember the stage in the Tour de France where his chain came off his cog? That's not magic."

umm, I've done tests to exhaustion but that sounds more like a test to extinction! Eight minute steps!!?? That is truly brutal.

I'm not so impressed by the sprint power, since RapDaddy can throw down 1570 and he's what, over twice as old as Boonen? Tom better get in the gym...