Neverpedia
Power
FTP (Functional Threshold Power)
The highest power, in watts, you can sustain for roughly an hour.
Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is the highest average power, in watts, that you can sustain for approximately one hour. It sits at the boundary between sustainable aerobic work and effort that quickly becomes unsustainable due to rising lactate.
How it is measured
The common protocols are:
- 20-minute test: Ride as hard as you can for 20 minutes. Multiply by 0.95.
- Ramp test: Increasing 1-minute steps until failure. Typically multiplies the final 1-minute average by ~0.75.
- Critical Power model: Solve for CP using a short (3-min) and longer (12-min) maximal effort.
- Real-world races: A maximal 40–60 minute hard effort often produces a better estimate than a lab-style test.
Why it matters
FTP anchors your training zones. Endurance, tempo, sweet spot, threshold, and VO2 work are all defined as percentages of FTP. It also scales TSS (Training Stress Score), making your training load numbers meaningful.
Common misconceptions
- FTP is not literally your best 60-minute power — many riders can do more than FTP for an hour on a good day.
- FTP is not a personality trait. It moves with fitness, fatigue, sleep, and stress.
- A higher FTP does not automatically make you a faster racer. Durability and pacing matter just as much.
Related concepts
Critical Power (CP), Normalized Power (NP), TSS, Sweet Spot, and Threshold heart rate (LTHR).