Divide your threshold power by your body weight and see where your cycling power-to-weight ratio sits against the classic Coggan power-profile reference.
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FTP power-to-weight reference
| Category | Chart value (W/kg) | Your W/kg falls here |
|---|---|---|
| Untrained | 2.22 | under 2.49 |
| Fair | 2.75 | 2.49 to under 3.02 |
| Moderate | 3.29 | 3.02 to under 3.55 |
| Good | 3.82 | 3.55 to under 4.13 |
| Very Good | 4.44 | 4.13 to under 4.71 |
| Excellent | 4.98 | 4.71 to under 5.25 |
| Exceptional | 5.51 | 5.25 to under 5.78 |
| World Class | 6.04 | 5.78 and above |
This reference assumes the power entered is FTP/threshold power. The same W/kg from a 5-second sprint or a 5-minute effort means something completely different, so don't compare across durations. The categories come from the FTP column of the Coggan/Allen power profile chart, matched to the nearest printed value. The chart was built for young adult racers and has no age or discipline adjustment, so treat the label as a rough reference.
The most-cited benchmark is the power profile in Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan's Training and Racing with a Power Meter. Its chart has separate men's and women's columns. The table below lists the printed FTP value for each rating; your own result belongs to the nearest one, which is how Coggan describes using the chart. It was built for young adult racers with no age adjustment, so read it as a guide to where you stand, not a judgment:
| Rating | Men, FTP in W/kg | Women, FTP in W/kg |
|---|---|---|
| Untrained | 2.22 | 1.83 |
| Fair | 2.75 | 2.32 |
| Moderate | 3.29 | 2.82 |
| Good | 3.82 | 3.31 |
| Very Good | 4.44 | 3.88 |
| Excellent | 4.98 | 4.38 |
| Exceptional | 5.51 | 4.87 |
| World Class | 6.04 | 5.36 |
Older riders and masters will often sit below these values without being any less trained for their age, so compare yourself mostly against your own history.
W/kg is FTP divided by body mass. This chart shows the ratio for common combinations, so you can read your number off without a calculator:
| FTP | 55 kg | 65 kg | 75 kg | 85 kg | 95 kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150 W | 2.73 | 2.31 | 2 | 1.76 | 1.58 |
| 200 W | 3.64 | 3.08 | 2.67 | 2.35 | 2.11 |
| 250 W | 4.55 | 3.85 | 3.33 | 2.94 | 2.63 |
| 300 W | 5.45 | 4.62 | 4 | 3.53 | 3.16 |
| 350 W | 6.36 | 5.38 | 4.67 | 4.12 | 3.68 |
Not sure of your FTP? Estimate it first with the FTP calculator and come back. Once you have it, the power zones calculator turns the same number into training zones.
Flip the chart to see the threshold power a given W/kg demands at your weight:
| Target | 60 kg | 70 kg | 80 kg | 90 kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 W/kg | 180 W | 210 W | 240 W | 270 W |
| 3.5 W/kg | 210 W | 245 W | 280 W | 315 W |
| 4 W/kg | 240 W | 280 W | 320 W | 360 W |
| 4.5 W/kg | 270 W | 315 W | 360 W | 405 W |
| 5 W/kg | 300 W | 350 W | 400 W | 450 W |
Read down any column and across any row: the same W/kg target is a very different absolute wattage for riders of different sizes.
Three riders all hold exactly 4 W/kg. On a 5 km, 6% climb their times are almost identical, but on the flat the heavier rider is much faster, because more absolute watts push more air:
| Rider weight | Power at 4 W/kg | 5 km at 6% | Flat speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 kg | 240 W | 17:01 | 36.5 km/h |
| 75 kg | 300 W | 16:25 | 39.3 km/h |
| 90 kg | 360 W | 16:00 | 41.7 km/h |
To turn your own W/kg into a finish time on a real hill, use the hill climb calculator. For flat roads, the homepage shows how many watts a ride takes at any speed.
That lands nearest "Good" on the men's chart and "Very Good" on the women's. There are two ways to move the ratio: add 10 W and it becomes 4.13 W/kg, or carry 2 kg less at the same power and it becomes 4.11 W/kg. W/kg divides by rider weight only, leaving out the bike, which is a convention rather than physics.
A rider's five-second sprint W/kg can be several times their threshold W/kg, so a ratio means little without its duration. The table on this page is for threshold-level power held for roughly an hour. Compare a sprint W/kg with sprint benchmarks, a five-minute one with five-minute benchmarks, and so on. For shorter-effort capability, the critical power calculator describes your power-duration curve in two numbers.
