{"id":585090,"date":"2026-04-04T13:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T13:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/585090\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T13:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T13:53:10","slug":"the-new-performance-metric-that-may-replace-w-kg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/585090\/","title":{"rendered":"The new performance metric that may replace W\/kg"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                        <img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Pogacar-splitting-MSR-2025-2.png\" alt=\"The new performance metric that may replace W\/kg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                        <a class=\"article__category\" href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/performance\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Performance<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__sub-title\">Compound score, developed by WorldTour sports scientists, offers insights that suggest it may outperform power-to-weight in predicting race performance.<\/p>\n<p>                                <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Alex Hunt\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"author__photo lazy \" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753163589_155_Alex-Hunt-150x150.png\" width=\"99\" height=\"99\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Cor Vos<\/p>\n<p>Watts of power produced per kilogram of body weight has long been cycling\u2019s default metric for standardised power comparison. The elegant metric evens out differences in rider size and reduces physical ability to a single, clean number. All you have to do is divide watts by kilos, and in theory, you\u2019ve levelled the playing field.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t just the ease of the metric that propelled it into every cyclist&#8217;s vocabulary, either. It was also because of its validity in what is often seen as cycling&#8217;s testing ground \u2013 climbs, where races are often seen to be won and lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But according to research led by Peter Leo, a research fellow in the Department of Sport Science at the University of Innsbruck and coach with Jayco-AlUla, it doesn\u2019t explain who wins races. \u201cThe predictive ability of relative power (W\/kg) is not great,\u201d Leo told Escape Collective. When comparing riders in the same races, the mismatch was clear. \u201cDespite very good relative power numbers, we couldn\u2019t explain why some riders with better power-to-mass ratios were finishing behind others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the gap that compound score, which Leo and his fellow researchers came up with in 2022 and published in 2023 in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S1440244022004960?ref=escapecollective.com\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport<\/a>, is trying to fill. Combining absolute power with relative power, it captures whether athletes have the raw engine to survive in a chassis to make a difference when it counts.<\/p>\n<p>Although the concept is just four years old, it&#8217;s already making inroads in pro cycling. Leo&#8217;s research collaborator, John Wakefield, director of coaching, sports science and technology at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, said it&#8217;s become a key part of his talent evaluation. \u201cWhen I analyse riders, it\u2019s the first metric I look at,\u201d he told Escape. \u201cI use it very much within our recruiting and scouting protocols.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While not perfect, the compound score also has a more accurate performance than relative power alone in predicting likely podium contenders for major one-day races in particular. The insights it offers could help coaches like Leo and Wakefield more effectively identify and develop talents by better understanding the foundations of elite physiology.<\/p>\n<p>Why does W\/kg struggle?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On flat and rolling terrain, power-to-weight ratio matters far less than absolute power and aerodynamics. At 390 watts, a 65 kg rider produces 6 W\/kg. For an 80 kg rider, that same power is achieved at 4.88 W\/kg. But the key forces working against the rider on that terrain are primarily aerodynamic drag, which doesn&#8217;t scale with rider size the way absolute power output tends to. On the flat, where gravity isn\u2019t a limiter, there is a clear advantage to the heavier rider. There are exceptions; drag is highly individual, which is why a relatively lightweight rider like 63 kg Remco Evenepoel can beat much larger riders like Filippo Ganna,\u00a0who is 20 kg heavier, even in flat time trials.<\/p>\n<p>                This post is for paying subscribers only<br \/>\n            <a class=\"gh-btn\" data-portal=\"signup\" href=\"#\/portal\/signup\" style=\"color:#FF6F42\">Subscribe now<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Already have an account? <a data-portal=\"signin\" href=\"#\/portal\/signin\">Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n<p class=\"reactions\" data-post-id=\"69ce3bf3f0f610ac4f06a74c\">\n                    \ud83d\udc4dYep<br \/>\n                    \ud83d\udc4eNope\n                <\/p>\n<p class=\"tags\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/performance\/\" title=\"Performance\" class=\"tag tag-67a677ae0c7ad49bf4f29411 performance\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Performance<\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/compound-score\/\" title=\"compound score\" class=\"tag tag-69ce444df0f610ac4f06a837 compound-score\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">compound score<\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/power-analysis\/\" title=\"Power analysis\" class=\"tag tag-67a677ae0c7ad49bf4f2942a power-analysis\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Power analysis<\/a>\n                <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Performance Compound score, developed by WorldTour sports scientists, offers insights that suggest it may outperform power-to-weight in predicting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-585090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}