Ftp of 16 years old

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Dani R

New Member
Hey
I am a Italian teenager (16 yrs old). I wanted to ask what's your opinion about my ftp. It's my first year on the roadbike (started mtb with 8 years) and the first year I train constantly according to plans. I also started to make races. I have difficulties on the climbs but when it comes to a sprint I can get in the top 10.
So I would see myself as a sprinter.
My ftp is about 4.7 watts/kg.
Is this high or low for a sprinter?
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
Welcome to cyclechat. Wish I was 16 again!

But I was 16 when I first joined a club. I remember being frequently dropped and suffering on the hills in the first year. But steady riding through the winter and then a summer season of racing (time trials mostly). But I stuck with it and after a couple of years, riding summer and winter, found that I was the one getting to the top of the hills first on a club run.

So probably at 16, it is too soon to worry about being a sprinter or an endurance rider or worrying about numbers.

By coincidence, when I was 16 and when I joined a club, the World Cup was taking place and England were doing rather well. You are 16 and England are doing rather well again, as too are Italy, so enjoy the final.
 

DCLane

Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
Welcome @Dani R

My son's just turned 17 and races - but prefers the hills rather than flat sprints. Which is good, because we live in hills.

FTP is a 20-minute score, it's different power over a range of time slots (5 and 30 seconds, 1/5/20/60 minutes) which will provide more detail. Sprinters have a much higher 5 and 30 second score than most. Remember sprinting is about tactics as well as power. Learning where, when and how to sprint will have as much effect as raw power numbers.

At 16 you're starting out, and your 4.7 seems a 20-minute score? If so it's OK and keep going. My son's team will have riders with 20-minute FTP's of about 4-6.5 (an estimate from the team's Zwift Power records) and the riders are mostly age 14-18. I've had a look at my son's Training Peaks record and his 20-minute FTP's around 6.3 but his 5-second one is quite low, which reflects a rider who does distance/hills and time trials plus road racing.
 
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