Nino Schurter shares crazy power data from Albstadt mud fest

Nino Schurter slid to an uncharacteristic sixth place in the muddy World Cup season opener, but the Swiss star was still putting heaps of power through the pedals.

The poor – for Schurter – finish may cast doubts on the Swiss legends ability to keep up with the next generation of riders, but his power data shows he’s not having any problem finding the Watts on race day.

Schurter held a normalized power of 368 W for the 1 hour 25 minute race, but with some huge efforts along the way.

To jump out to the lead on the start loop, Schurter put down a huge 2 minute 41 second effort with a normalized power of 531 W take him to the top of the first slippery Albstadt descent.

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Here are some of my numbers from Albstadt. Keep in mind that this is off road, in muddy and slippery conditions. But thought you would like to see it anyway… – NP 368W, race time 1h25m – Start to the first descent 2:41- NP 531W – Start loop to the top 6:37 – NP 461W – Steadiest climb in the second part of the loop: 7 x around 2:30 – NP 423W, 421W, 441W, 429W, 421W, 412W, 401W . @srammtb @quarq powermeter recorded with @garmin Edge 130 (68kg) . . #noshortcuts #oneobsession #scottsram #sram #rockshox #cornercard #velopa #luganoregion #maxxistires #odlo #beatyesterday

A post shared by Nino Schurter (@nschurter) on May 21, 2019 at 2:09am PDT

He didn’t slow down much after that, holding a huge NP of 461 W for the opening 6 min 37 seconds. This massive effort carried him to the top of the high point of the start loop fast enough that he dropped Dutch phenom Mathieu van der Poel.

After the rain started falling on the opening laps, Schurter started sliding backwards in the standings. His efforts didn’t let off much though. On the long, second climb on the Albstadt course, Schurter was impressively consistent despite the wildly changing course conditions. As somewhat dry dirt turned to slick mud, then into a soupy mess, Schurter’s efforts for the seven laps hovered right around 2 minutes 30 seconds. His NP on that climb varied by only 40 W over the course of the race, with four of those staying within eight Watts. He held NP 423 W on the opening lap, then 421 W, a race high 441 W the third time through, then 429 W, 421 W, 412 W. Schurter closed the race with a steadier 401 W as he faded form the chase group on the final lap.

All data was recorded on Schurter’s SRAM Quarq power meter, on a Garmin Edge 130.