Getty Image / ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP
The 2023 Tour de France concluded over the weekend. Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard was greeted by fans on the Champs-Elysees in Paris as he finished seven and a half minutes ahead of Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar who has won the 21-day race two times (2020, 2021).
It is not fair to say that anyone who can ride a bike fancies themselves a cyclist at this point, but the rise of stationary bikes at home (and in studios) has created a world where a lot of fitness riders are pondering how they’d compare to Tour de France riders.
Thankfully, for anyone who has ever wondered, a fascinating viral video from the NYT on TikTok reveals how amateurs stack up. In general, ‘amateurs’ who are still serious riders and tracking their rides on Strava, are about half as fast as the pros.
@nytimes Amateur athletes rarely get a chance to measure themselves against professionals. But with cycling, many pros and amateurs do the same thing after a ride: They upload their trip to an app called Strava, where anyone can see and track their speed and location. While they are not technically racing together, the data does allow us to see just how much faster the pros are than the rest of us. We created a virtual race of sorts, taking some of this year’s fastest Tour de France cyclists who posted their rides to Strava and pitting them against a few hundred amateurs who rode over the same climbs and posted their results online. Video by Ben Blatt, K.K. Rebecca Lai, Rebecca Suner, James Surdam #tourdefrance #tourmalet #cycling
The video is also available on Threads if TikTok doesn’t load, as well as on the NYT behind a paywall.
What they found, according to the Times is on the Col du Tourmalet (Stage 6) which has an average gradient of 7.4% (10.4 miles long), professional rider Tadej Pogacar finished the race segment in 41 minutes and 43 seconds.
There are over 53,000 entries on Strava for this race segment. One American (amateur) finished it in 91 minutes which is still faster than over 50% of amateurs. Suffice it to say, pros are over 2x faster.
They found similar results for Puy de Dôme (Stage 9). That stage has an average gradient of 10.9% over 2.8 miles. This year’s fastest pro completed it in 16 minutes and 40 seconds.
The Times spoke with one amateur who had to register online a month ahead just to ride the segment and later called it the “most steep climbing” they’d ever done in their life. They completed the segment in two seconds shy of 42 minutes.
Making these results even more impressive is the rigorous month-long schedule the Tour de France competitors are keeping. They are out riding these brutal courses with minimal rest, 21 segments in the month of March, while amateurs might prepare to ride 1-3 segments at best.
There was a time in the very recent past I was cycling 7 days a week. My mind certainly wandered to whether or not I’d be able to even complete some of the Tour de France segments. I’m convinced I could, it just might take me hours to get through some of the stages.