Tour de France 2023 ** SPOILERS **

[Dogtrousers]

Out riding last night, my rough estimate was that pros bikes are 40% better than ours peleton another 40% leaving 20% difference between them and us?🤣🤣🤣

My rule of thumb is that pro athletes are twice as fast as me. It worked when I was running, generally took me just under an hour for 10k, just under two hours for a half marathon, and the records are roughty twice that. (I did a few good runs that were better than that, but we can discount them). It works for cycling: I cruise at 20-25kmh ish on the flat, they cruise at 40-50kmh ish.

 

[T4tomo]

My rule of thumb is that pro athletes are twice as fast as me. It worked when I was running, generally took me just under an hour for 10k, just under two hours for a half marathon, and the records are roughty twice that. (I did a few good runs that were better than that, but we can discount them). It works for cycling: I cruise at 20-25kmh ish on the flat, they cruise at 40-50kmh ish.

yes that works for me, I was just over double the time of the great Pantani up Mont Ventoux (and I hadn't had any EPO) and similarly distant to Emmanual Buchman up Puig Major

very pleased to be inside double Simon Yates on Sa Colabra, but alas Tom Pidcock has recent smashed that time at an Ineos training camp.

To be fair to myself I'm well inside double their times on descent (well i'm not compared to a Pidders decent) but gravity help me more than them on downhills.

 

[mjr]

75 British riders have ridden the tour to date since inception

source: https://procyclinguk.com/every-british-rider-tour-de-france/
plus pidcock, shaw, turner

different answer/ question to what @Jameshow is asking but i think @mjr stating 80% of british pro will ride the tour at some point in their careers is bollox, it will be a lot lot less.

clearly more brits are getting into top teams than ever before, but still reckon it will only about 10-20% that will ever get to start the tour.

Interesting. Recent years have made me overestimate. Without checking, I think maybe 12 are still riding, so 12/81 ≈ 15% of current British pros have ridden it. Will that change much in future?

 

[Beebo]

yes that works for me, I was just over double the time of the great Pantani up Mont Ventoux (and I hadn't had any EPO) and similarly distant to Emmanual Buchman up Puig Major

very pleased to be inside double Simon Yates on Sa Colabra, but alas Tom Pidcock has recent smashed that time at an Ineos training camp.

To be fair to myself I'm well inside double their times on descent (well i'm not compared to a Pidders decent) but gravity help me more than them on downhills.

I’m sure closed roads helps their times, both up and down the hills. Where they can pick the best lines through the hair pins.
But how would you be on the 3rd week of 100+miles per day racing.
It’s easier to be 50% as quick on a single day, but over 3 weeks it’s probably a different story.

 

[T4tomo]

I’m sure closed roads helps their times, both up and down the hills. Where they can pick the best lines through the hair pins.
But how would you be on the 3rd week of 100+miles per day racing.
It’s easier to be 50% as quick on a single day, but over 3 weeks it’s probably a different story.

Not sure I'd make the 3rd week tbh not to mention getting 3 weeks off work may be awkward

.... to be fair my Mallorca comparisons are their training camps vs me and my mate having a day out on the bikes so like ish for like but clearly they are trying harder as its their job.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I’m sure closed roads helps their times, both up and down the hills. Where they can pick the best lines through the hair pins.
But how would you be on the 3rd week of 100+miles per day racing.
It’s easier to be 50% as quick on a single day, but over 3 weeks it’s probably a different story.

If only I had the free time to find out.

 

[Jameshow]

My rule of thumb is that pro athletes are twice as fast as me. It worked when I was running, generally took me just under an hour for 10k, just under two hours for a half marathon, and the records are roughty twice that. (I did a few good runs that were better than that, but we can discount them). It works for cycling: I cruise at 20-25kmh ish on the flat, they cruise at 40-50kmh ish.

I've done a 40 min 10k and 3hr10 marathon, shaving time off those gets much harder.
Probably the equivalent is under the hour for 25miles who the best are doing 45mins.

 

[Jameshow]

75 British riders have ridden the tour to date since inception

source: https://procyclinguk.com/every-british-rider-tour-de-france/
plus pidcock, shaw, turner

different answer/ question to what @Jameshow is asking but i think @mjr stating 80% of british pro will ride the tour at some point in their careers is bollox, it will be a lot lot less.

clearly more brits are getting into top teams than ever before, but still reckon it will only about 10-20% that will ever get to start the tour.

Think he means 20% ride tour? I'd think it's lower than 10% and the step up is probably a shock!🤣🤣

 

[Sunny Portrush]

My rule of thumb is that pro athletes are twice as fast as me. It worked when I was running, generally took me just under an hour for 10k, just under two hours for a half marathon, and the records are roughty twice that. (I did a few good runs that were better than that, but we can discount them). It works for cycling: I cruise at 20-25kmh ish on the flat, they cruise at 40-50kmh ish.

Having done a fair few Alpine climbs, I wish I got as close as the pros being twice as fast as me lol

Mind you, I’m giving them three decades and probably at least 3 stone

I did the Glandon recently and I reckon our favourite goat fanatic could have cycled up it, back down to the bottom and would have been within catching distance of me as I crossed the line.

The last 2k at 11% and 10% respectively took me nearly 15 minutes lol

 

[PapaZita]

A few years ago I did a few Étapes, etc. I remember being told that the faster amateurs sometimes completed the course faster than the pros. The reason, it was explained, was that the pros aren’t interested in setting a time, just being first to the line, or getting a gap on their opponents. Therefore, they’d often bimble along to the bottom of the last climb before racing up that. I’ve no idea if that was true, because as it happened the last climb that day was the Tourmalet, and Andy Schleck won the stage at almost exactly twice the speed that I managed.

 

[ColinJ]

A few years ago I did a few Étapes, etc. I remember being told that the faster amateurs sometimes completed the course faster than the pros. The reason, it was explained, was that the pros aren’t interested in setting a time, just being first to the line, or getting a gap on their opponents. Therefore, they’d often bimble along to the bottom of the last climb before racing up that. I’ve no idea if that was true, because as it happened the last climb that day was the Tourmalet, and Andy Schleck won the stage at almost exactly twice the speed that I managed.

The data I looked at one year with a mountainous Étape showed that the slowest sprinter in the autobus was quicker than the quickest amateur on the sportive!

I just found THIS...

Amateurs vs pros, Étape du Tour time comparisons

Back in 2015 the first rider across the line in the amateur sportive was France’s Jeremy Bescond in 4h52m44s. Five days later Vincenzo Nibali took the spoils as the Tour passed through, covering the stage in 4h22m53s at an average speed of 31.5kmh – that’s 11% quicker. Of course Nibali had the assistance of his team and other riders around him (although on this occasion no obvious use of the team car’s wing mirror), but on the flipside, Bescond was himself a pro rider until recently, as were a good chunk of the top 10 finishers in the Étape.

However, fifth overall in the Étape was France’s William Turnes in the 40-44 age category, and he’s likely to be the first real amateur to cross the line, finishing in 5h02m56s, 15% slower than Nibali. The last place finisher on Stage 19 of the 2015 Tour de France was Katusha’s Jacopo Guarnieri, in 4h53m23s, 12% slower than Nibali and perilously close to being excluded by the stage time cut-off.

To put this into context, Guarnieri is a sprinter who was doubtless conserving energy for the final yards in Paris and already had over 3,000km of racing in his legs. Yet he still managed to complete the course nearly 10 minutes ahead of the best-placed amateur rider who was no doubt giving everything he had for a single day.

 

[Dogtrousers]

The data I looked at one year with a mountainous Étape showed that the slowest sprinter in the autobus was quicker than the quickest amateur on the sportive!

I just found THIS...

And your article goes on to say: The last male finisher at the Étape took 12h46m07s, nearly three times longer than Nibali, but perhaps a more representative measure of the average rider would be to take the halfway point (the median) of the finishers. That was the rider in 4,986th position, David Hall, who finished in 8h49m07s – just over double Nibali’s time, so half his average speed.

This lines up to my "pros are twice as fast as me" rule. Or at least it would if I was David Hall. I'm not, and I suspect if I did it I would be closer to the 12 hour mark. I don't know, I've never cycled up big mountains.

 

[Jameshow]

And your article goes on to say: The last male finisher at the Étape took 12h46m07s, nearly three times longer than Nibali, but perhaps a more representative measure of the average rider would be to take the halfway point (the median) of the finishers. That was the rider in 4,986th position, David Hall, who finished in 8h49m07s – just over double Nibali’s time, so half his average speed.

This lines up to my "pros are twice as fast as me" rule. Or at least it would if I was David Hall. I'm not, and I suspect if I did it I would be closer to the 12 hour mark. I don't know, I've never cycled up big mountains.

Poor guy what did he do wrong!

 

[Beebo]

Or at least it would if I was David Hall. I'm not,

My friends dad is called David Hall, he would have been in his early 70s in 2015, and I don’t remember him ever riding a bike. I suspect it isn’t him.
So the search for David Hall goes on.

 

[roadrash]

vingo returns home, i will just leave this here.....
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🇫🇷 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TDF2023?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#TDF2023</a> <br><br>What a crowd. 🤩🇩🇰 <a href="https://t.co/9sUuaquViv">pic.twitter.com/9sUuaquViv</a></p>&mdash; Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) <a href="
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">July 26, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>