Originally Posted by berner

Race speeds are faster but they do not seem to be that much faster. Tour de France Statistics , racing - Why aren't Tour de France riders going any faster? - Bicycles Stack Exchange This next link shows a more graffic view of the very slow and minor increase in speed. It is surprising to me that with lighter bikes, better training methods and crew support, the differences in speed are not greater. On the other hand, once you are at the top of the game, making a minute increase in performance is very difficult. I suspect that at the level of amateur cyclists a better performing bike makes little difference actual performance but may make a big difference in satisfaction.