We recently reported that six per cent of the UK population reckon they could qualify for the 2028 Olympic Road Race if they started training today. With thatin mind, we set out to see just how long we could ride at the speed of the pros to try and put into perspective just how fast they really are!
This is Remco Evenepoel and despite him being just 24 years old he is already one of the best cyclists in the world. He’s won the Vuelta Espana, he’s won the world championships, this year he finished third at the Tour de France and then a few weeks ago he added two rather nice big shiny medals to his collection.
>Remco Evenepoel survives last minute bike-change scare to make history by winning Paris Olympics 2024 cycling road race
And this is me, the last medal I won was at a fun run, however,armed with a very tight skinsuit, I hadjust one aim, to try and ride as fast as Remco to prove that at least six per cent of the UK population are completely and utterly deluded, let me explain…
Six per cent of Brits reckon they could qualify for the 2028 Olympic Road Race
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Pro cyclists are quick right, they are genetic superhumans, with the best bikes, the best equipment and they’ve trained for the majority of their lives to do just one thing, ride a bike as quickly as possible. Now, I didn’t really think that that was up for debate, and yet over the last few weeks, you might have seen this piece of research doing the rounds.
Here in the UK, we love a bit of a poll and after the Olympics, YouGov published this. Of the general public they surveyed, six per cent of Brits reckon that if they started now, they could qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games Road Race and to be honest this had much of the road.cc office completely and utterly baffled (although some were no doubt thinking about training plans).
Take this year’s Olympic road race for example, there were 4 Team GB riders selected and when Tom Pidcock doesn’t crack the top 10 you just kind of know that it's not your average Sunday club run.
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For starters, the route was a whopping 273km long and it's not like it was flat either with 2,800m of elevation.
And yet after 235km, about the length of my longest-ever ride, Remco decided that he fancied attacking and proceeded to ride the remnants of the breakaway offhis wheel and then soloed to the finish.
How fast do pro cyclists ride?
Thanks to his Strava data we can actually see how fast he was riding for this portion of the race.
Evenepoel attackedabout 39km from thefinish and then without the help of a peloton he averaged 47.7kph, for anyone who would rather miles per hour that works out at just a smidge under 30. He maxxed out on the downhills at 96.8 kph (60.1mph) easing back to a leisurely 86.1 kph (53.5mph) on the descents after he'd destroyed the field with his attack.
The Test
That got us thinking, how long could we cycle at this eye-watering speed, we set off to find out!
The test was simple, I'd roll down a hill to help me get up to the magic speed and then once at the bottom, I'd use the flat, pretty straight road of my local TT routeto see how long I could hold it for.
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If I didn’tmake it very far then I had lined up a few excuses, for example, I'd be using my SL7 Tarmac rather than the latest SL8 that Evenepoel used (Shown above). That, according to Specialized is a MASSIVE disadvantage to the tune of about seven watts, it’s obviously not that Evenepoel is better on a bike alright!
Results
Despite going very deep and tasting my own lungs for the next half an hour I managed to hold Evenepoel’s Olympic speed for just under5 minutes. It's pretty clear then that I’ve got some work to do if I want to be selected for the road race in four years time and hopefully, thisputs into some sort of perspective just how fast the pros are…
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I am a pretty keen cyclist, I train for about 12 hours a week, I race criteriums and road races and yet despite having no corners to contend with, none of the Parisian kickers, none of the chasing attacks for 230 kilometres prior, I could only hold the same speed for less than an eighthof the time.
Evenepoel held that 47.7kphfor 46 minutes whilst having time to swap bikes when he punctured and have a nice celebration over the finish line. Now, I know that even if I quit my job today and trained relentlessly for four years I'm just not gettinganywhere nearthat call up…
Part 2
And that brings me to the second part of the test because technically I have a bit of an unfair advantage over the majority of the UK population surveyed, I already actually ride a bike competitively.
So, to really try and hammer home just how fast the pros are riding and put into perspective how deluded the UK population is my mumkindly volunteered herself to give the same test a go.
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The result was 18 seconds at 47.7kph, it's not as easy as it looks on the telly!
Why's it so hard to ride fast?
According to my trusty bike calculator on a flat, smooth road with no wind, it would require 65 watts to maintain a speed of 20kph. However, the watts required to maintain double the speed require many times more watts, not just double.
In fact, the same road, withthe same body position andsame setup would require around 375 watts to ride at 40kph, nearly six times more than the requirement for the lower speed.
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This is because the relationship between drag and speed is not linear resulting in the need for a lot more power to go only a little bit faster when at high speeds. Evenepoel is so quick because he has mastered the art of being able to put out huge power numbers whilst in a super aerodynamic position.
Could 6% of the population do it?
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So, in conclusion, we found what most of us knew already, the pros are ridiculously, superhumanly, eye-wateringlyfast.
Rather than let itdepress us that very few of us will everbe that quick, let's just put some respect on the riders who do qualify, just getting to a race like the Olympics is a huge achievement and most of the riders there have spent their entire lives dedicated to training for that moment - that’s certainly not something that 6% of the population can fast track in the next four years.
Let usknow how long you think you could ride as fast as Evenepoel in the comments section below...
