They have an advantage - at the same W/kg, that is. After all - they are generating more power, it’s not like it’s a free ride.
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Yeah, anyone with absolutely higher watts will have an advantage. It’s just that heavier riders tend to put higher absolute watts out.
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Just being heavy does not guarantee higher power. There need to be a bunch of muscle to drive that weight.
Weight and height is used to calculate CDa so more weight = more wind resistance = less speed
Weight is also used to calculate rolling resistance so more weight = more rolling resistance = less speed.
A heavy rider may have to put out ±80w more on the flat to ride with a lighter rider.
Look at the TTT comparison. This was on the Watopia volcano flat. These two riders is the workhorses of the team, so lets say they was at the front the same amount of time.
The heavy rider had to do 74w more over the hour to contribute to the team performance.
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For me heavy guys take the lead all time if not it’s so unfair for heavy guys …
In real life 80W at 39/40 km/h it’s the différence of a TT aero position and a normal position at the bottom
I have seen this behavior in races with New Pack Dynamics [February 2021]. Could it be that it was one of these races?
I’m 66kg C cat and for the last 3 weeks have seen a noticeable effect of less power & draft at the back of the pack in TTT, I’ve been pushing extra watts to try and keep up and it’s almost impossible to get back on from a gap so I’m getting dropped even though I’m pushing max C cat watts!?