TT times

geoff_ss

Today's individual TT was a trifle over 25 miles. It was won with a 48 and even Cavendish, who probably didn't try as hard as possible, did a (very) long 53. The course was hardly a dual carriageway dragstrip but the times were very comparable (even better) to those of a typical UK 25.

Are these pros really so much better than even the very best of amateur riders over here? It's not as if they've been resting all week in preparation.

Geoff

paulcuthbert

I couldn't do 25 miles flat out that fast. THese guys are heroes

Kléber

Don't forget they weren't able to benefit from the draft of passing articulated lorries either.

Bronzie

Kléber wrote:

Don't forget they weren't able to benefit from the draft of passing articulated lorries either.

Just the gendarmes motorbikes, eh Alberto

dennisn

The U.S. record for 40k Elite Men is 47:36. And has stood since 1990. AC's time, and more than a few others, was damn fast. All things considered. What is the British(or English) record?

grantus

If memory serves me correctly Chris Boardman has gone mid forties although maybe i'm wrong

grantus

http://www.bikebrothers.co.uk/engers_4924.htm

and this chap deserves a mention too!

geoff_ss

dennisn wrote:

The U.S. record for 40k Elite Men is 47:36. And has stood since 1990. AC's time, and more than a few others, was damn fast. All things considered. What is the British(or English) record?

Chris Boardman holds the 25 record in 45'57" and a chap called Wiggins holds the 10 in 17'58" according to the Cycling Time Trials web site.

Alf Enger held the record from 1978 to 1990 with a 49' 24" until Pete Longbottom (a road man rather than a tester) broke it by 11 seconds.

Geoff

Jeff Jones

Dual carriageway courses make UK TT times seem very quick. Mainly because they're non-technical and have traffic.

The first stage of the Tour in Monaco was just short of 10 miles and had a sizeable hill in it. I did a 10 on a dragstrip on the same day as the Tour stage and my average speed was 1.2km/h quicker than Cancellara's, 2km/h quicker than Wiggins, and I didn't even win!

OTOH, my average (normalised) power would have been about 150W lower than Wiggins', and I'm only a few kg lighter than him. That is a massive difference in ability. It highlights how much difference the course and conditions can make.

Boardman's 45'57 for 25 miles was set back in 1993 on a fast but very busy course (even he commented afterwards that the traffic was insane). He was an excellent time triallist in the pro ranks, although IIRC he didn't win any longer TdF TTs.

Michael Hutchinson has come close to beating Boardman's 25 comp record a few times with several 46min rides. I think if you put Hutch in a Tour stage like today's fresh, he'd give the top 15 a nudge - he's not that much slower than Wiggins. Tough to tell because the times were super tight today: 3'00 separating the top 46 riders!

flattythehurdler

To put the gulf into perspective, the 2006 etape de Tour was won by a chap called Blaise Sonnery iirc. He benefitted from being in a pack until the alpe where he attacked. Due to the prestige of the event he was presumably one of the top european amateurs. When the tour went through the same stage it was their second of three really hard alpine days. Sonnery would heve been eliminated for being so far outside the winner's time. I can think of few sports where the gulf between top amateur and decent pro is so large. Read into that what you will.

takethehighroad

Isn't Blaise Sonerry a pro now though, or he used to be a pro, on the lower ranks of someone lke Bouygues or FdJ.

takethehighroad

Yup AG2R

http://www.cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/rider.asp?riderid=3457

eh

flattythehurdler you can't compare the Etape with the real stage, for starters you don't have the team organisation to drive the bunch in the Etape.

I don't think the differences between Pros and top amateur riders is anything more than expected, considering that most amateurs are doing another job as well. If you took the top 10 riders at this years 25 nationals, I expect they'd all have gone under 55mins yesterday, which isn't all that big a gap.

k-dog

I remember reading about David Millar turning up to a local TT a few years ago - where he took it fairly easy and won by something like 3mins over 10 miles.

The gap is that big between them and "us".

I suppose it's like that with most sports though - if you play golf I'm sure there are guys in your club who play off 2 or less - but they wouldn't get anywhere playing against anyone who was in the Open last weekend - again there's a huge difference between being a very good amateur and these pro's.

ju5t1n

k-dog wrote:

I remember reading about David Millar turning up to a local TT a few years ago - where he took it fairly easy and one by something like 3mins over 10 miles.

The gap is that big between them and "us".

I suppose it's like that with most sports though - if you play golf I'm sure there are guys in your club who play off 2 or less - but they wouldn't get anywhere playing against anyone who was in the Open last weekend - again there's a huge difference between being a very good amateur and these pro's.

It was a High Wycombe Cycling Club evening 10, he was using it as a warm-up for the Vuelta d'Espagna prologue and he broke the club record by over a minute

graeme_s-2

One of the (few non-controversial) points that really struck me about Paul Kimmage's Rough Ride was his experience of moving from amateur to pro. He went from being Irish national amateur champion (and had come 6th in the amateur world road race championships) to struggling to hang onto the back of the pro peloton.

It must be a real shock for a lot of riders to go from winning everything they enter to struggling to finish races.