Davidgpc

Yesterday a 17 mile section of the race was timed at 32 minutes. Which if my math is correct, means they average 31 miles per hour. The commentator said 40 mph is not unusual and riding downhill they get much faster. On a good day going downhill with the wind behind me I don't remember ever riding 30 mph, but I am 66 year old. That this guys would substance this speed for hours seems incredible. Am I missing something?

Shimagnolo

Tour de France Statistics

geehue

Overall average at the TdF has been floating about 40 km/h for the past 20 years. That's roughly 25 mph.

Bandera

A total dedication to bicycle racing by extra ordinarily talented individuals starting in the junior ranks and progressing to the most elite level in world competition.
These are not the guys you see on the MUP.




-Bandera

JanMM

Boy howdy!

Fldaves

Individual time trail average mph speed is around 30mph.

79pmooney

From wikipedia, the fastest ever TdF average speed was 25.8 mph in 2006 (EPO fueled). In recent years, 24.8 is fast. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_d...and_statistics)

Ben

DiabloScott

2014 edition: 3664 km in 90 hours = 40.7 km/hr

Bandera

To be impressed go to your local USA Cycling sanctioned race, most likely a criterium, and watch the local riders have at it.
TdF speeds will not be attained but the Junior women will hit paces you will never match.

Bike racers are fast, to state the obvious.

-Bandera

climberguy

Well, at the risk of stating the obvious: one 17-mile section (didn't they use kilometers?) is not a race average. Factors such as gradient, wind speed and direction, the point in the race (usually a bit faster near the end), etc., all enter into it. Other posters have given more accurate averages. But yes, they go faster than the rest of us--and rightly so.

jandnvh

What fascinates me is that after a 100+ mile ride the youngsters still have the energy to sprint

jyl

Average speed for the whole tour is misleading since that includes 2 weeks climbing mountains.

On a flat, windless road, the peloton will hustle along at 30 mph for hours.

That's because they aren't riding as individuals, the guys at the front are pulling hard and everyone else is riding in the draft. Aerodynamics are a huge part of bike racing.

When a rider has a flat, if he has to chase back alone, he really has to go hard. Or draft behind the team cars, or his teammates drop back and they all paceline back together.

BigAura

Tour de France 1920, Nicotine not a PED:

Davidgpc

Very impressive numbers, I can't even imagine averaging 25 mph. I can't imagine 25 mph period

Davidgpc

One of the oldest people ever to finish a marathon was nearly 100. The press asked if he had stopped and he said "Yes, twice for a smoke break"

SlowSpinner

An ex pro told me once you have to be able to average 23 mph for an hour, not on totally flat terrain, riding alone to even be considered trying to be a pro rider.

chasm54

i'd say that was a gross over-simplification. Certainly pretty much every pro road racer could do that, but it actually isn't much of an accomplishment. At 60 I can go fairly close to the hour for a 40k/25 mile time trial, Merckx-style, on a road bike. On a TT bike I could probably beat 60 minutes. So that is 25 miles per hour for a single hour, and I'm not and never have been anywhere close to having the talent to think about turning pro - when racing I could just about hang with the pack in a cat 3-4 crit and would invariably get slaughtered in the masters 55-59 category.

There's a lot more to racing than the ability to ride fast for a while. Triathletes, who are often mighty strong and have loads of power, usually get dropped early when they try a proper bike race because they can't deal with the changes of pace. A bike race typically consists of a series of surges, so a key thing is being able to sprint repeatedly and then recover at speed when the pace slacks off a bit. And that's before we talk about tactics, drafting, teamwork, knowing when to attack etc.

In any race, the ability to use the pack to shelter from the wind means the group can cover the distance far faster than they could each manage as individuals. Even a routine Cat 3 crit will generally exceed 25 mph. And the difference between being a half-decent amateur and making your living as a pro is huge. These guys put out in excess of 5 watts per kilo of bodyweight. They ride along having a conversation at power levels that would leave quite good amateurs toiling in their wake.

Gerryattrick

The difference between top international sportsmen and the rest of us - even talented "amateurs" - is huge.

In my younger years I was a reasonably good badminton player playing in the top division of our county league when, in an inter-company badminton tournament I was drawn against someone who became the best female badminton player in the UK.

She wiped the floor with me, and I'm sure she didn't break into a sweat! If I remember correctly (and I have tried to forget) I didn't get one point in the whole match.

Cycling is bound to be the same, especially when you consider the improvements in diet, training, conditioning etc. in recent years.

leob1

Back in the day, decades ago, when I rode hard on my light weight state of the art bike(now wall art), every day, I could hold a 20 mph average. And still get passed the guys that where training to race. These days, the pros go faster uphill than I do going down.

Jarrettsin

To do that kind of speed and distance, with those climbs, day after day!
All the credit in the world to those riders

Biker395 

You have to watch those guys climb and have ridden the same roads to really get a feel for it. I'm a decent climber, and the pros on the TdC were making 18 MPH on roads that I have to work hard and hustle to make 11. Huge difference!

Steve B.

Having watched and understood what's involved in a lot of sports, especially endurance sports, I've always felt that pro cyclists were the toughest endurance athletes on the planet.

To ride the season from February (in a rainy damp Europe) to October, including 3 - 3 week major tours, all the while averaging 25 mph for 6 hrs. a day, 6 days a week, puts them in a different category then say a US pro baseball player. Just not the same.

Outnumbered

I am impressed by the riders in the Tour. Look at there legs and they all have scars from falls through the years at speeds I will never attain. Any professional of any sport is at the top of their level and although people play sports everywhere few will ever attain the top status of the elite athlete.

They are extremely impressive doing this day after day in the different tours.

StanSeven

Yeah but the Tour riders can't match the pace of the 41 posters

scott967

Sure, but they don't have to hit the curve ball.

scott s.
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