So when the riders turn onto the Champs-Elysses for their last eight laps, they are happy they made it. For some of them - especially the sprinters and their teams who are looking forward tois the "sprint royale" - the crowning of the sprinter who is the fastest after 3 weeks of struggling.

We can have a look at the data from two Liquigas riders from the final stage - Daniel Oss, the youngster who got caught after a breakaway on Friday with just 3 kilometers to go, and Roman Kreuziger, the young Czech rider who had his ups and downs in this year's Tour de France, but is definitely a rider to watch in the upcoming years with a good chance of becoming one of the top contenders for Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador.

The first 50 kilometers to get to the center of Paris was just a celebration ride. Photographers take their final pictures of the riders. The Sports Director of the winner's team brings Champagne to all the other Sports Directors to celebrate.

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But when the riders reach the circuit the speed picks up and a real race begins, not just for the spectators and fans who are all around the 6.2 kilometers, also for the honor of winning the "grande finale".

The average speed for the last hour was 49 km/h, Daniel Oss averaged 317 watts, Roman Kreuziger 277 watt (average heart rate: 135 bpm). Roman Kreuziger took it easy on the last stage. He's not a sprinter so there was nothing to win for him in this stage, he was just aiming to cross the finish line and to avoid crashing in the last few kilometers after 3,641.9 kilometers of racing.

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Daniel's fastest lap was the last: 7:00 minutes, average 410 watts for 6.15 kilometers. He was on the wheel of Alessandro Petacchi (Team Lampre) and finished 10th. Looking at his data for the last lap shows how hard he worked for his position. Several accelerations above 900 watts to jump and stay on the best wheel for perfect slipstream and then the final effort: 20 seconds at 908 watts average to accelerate from 50 km/h to 63.4 km/h. Max power 1,026 watts.

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Have a look at the photo. You can see Daniel in his green Liquigas jersey right in the middle behind Petacchi. It is interesting because it might be an explanation why Cavendish is dominating the sprints and his rocket-like acceleration. Even when he's in the foreground and closer to the photographer, he seems smaller than his competitors who are behind him. His frontal area is much smaller than any other rider - maybe Freire is close - but no other rider. The TV pictures also showed his perfect form from the side view.
It's aerodynamics at their best, and a good explanation why "only" 1,252 watts max like in the sprint in Bordeaux might be enough to dominate his contenders. Having a perfect train, good timing and anticipation for the sprint plus perfect aerodynamics and well-coordinated power (not only in his legs) - it is the whole package, not just sheer power.
As a "package" like this he seems to be unbeatable.

Thanks also to you! We had a lot more readers this year than in the last two years. Power is becoming a more accepted and understood measure in cycling. There are thousands of users already and we are glad and happy to see you work with the data.

In the next weeks we will review different aspects of the Tour de France and the SRM data from the Tour . Please keep checking our site, and follow us on twitter to get the SRM news first hand.