Average 50 km/h. How is it possible that the Tour de France goes so fast?

Some suggest that the uncertainty hanging over each race day has become the catalyst for more aggressive racing. But it won’t be just that.

The trend obviously continued in 2021 and this year. The 2022 Spring Classics were some of the fastest ever. Paris–Roubaix and Liège–Bastogne–Liège were the fastest editions in history this year. And this year’s Milan – San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Gent–Wevelgem, Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne have always made it into the top ten fastest races.

But it doesn’t end with one-offs. Stages 11, 12 and 13 of the recent Giro d’Italia were run at an average speed of over 45 km/h. It was the first time that three consecutive stages of the Giro had reached such a speed. And it continues at the Tour de France. The winner of the 5th stage drove an average of 48.6 km/h, the 6th even at an incredible 49.3 km/h! And the demanding 7th with a trip to the Plain of Beautiful Girls had an average of 44.3 km/h.

Many ask how it is possible that today’s peloton, which is cleaner in terms of doping, is surpassing the speed of the doping 90s.

Of course, speeds are greatly influenced by stage profiles, race routes, weather, wind direction and strength. But everyone, including the pros, confirms that racing is simply faster in 2022.

Cyclingtips.com has calculated that race speeds have steadily increased over the past two decades. But only in the last two years has it grown literally by rocket. What has caused this recent increase and how is it possible?

“He races in a different style. The whole race is driven more sharply,” Jan Hirt, currently the best Czech road cyclist, explained to Seznam Zprávám. “It starts in the escapes, which are fast from the start and have strong cyclists. And so even the peloton chasing them has to go faster. The racers are stronger, we all see them riding higher watts. Their performance is greater. He trains better now, regenerates better. And when someone is good, others follow him and pull behind him. In 2017 I finished the Giro in 12th place. With the current watts, I would be on the podium,” explains Hirt.

However, the last two years are not unique. We already experienced a similar increase in speed in the mid-1990s and then ten years later. We know that back then doping had a lot to do with it. And that could cast a shadow of suspicion even on current exceptional performances.

However, it is widely believed that professional racing has never been cleaner than it is today. Of course, there are always athletes willing to break the rules. However, the days of systematic doping in cycling appear to be long gone. And even possible isolated excesses cannot increase the speed of the entire peloton. So what helps modern riders achieve such speeds?

Modern equipment certainly has an effect on increasing speeds. While speeds increased during the 1990s, the only major drop in average speed directly coincides with the introduction of the EPO test. Another reduction in speeds coincides with the introduction of the UCI’s biological passports in 2008, when riders were penalized based on passport discrepancies.

Experts point to the fact that doping restrictions have instead become a catalyst for an increased focus on safer and legal means of enhancing performance.

Of course, aerodynamics undoubtedly play a big role. After the drop in average speeds following the introduction of biopasses, a series of aerodynamic testing including real-world testing came after 2012. One of the first was the American company Specialized and the British team Sky, today’s Ineos.

Up until that point, cycling technology hadn’t changed much since Eddy Merckx’s days in the 1960s and 1970s. Although carbon fibers came, more gears, but “aerodynamically” not much changed. The wheels mostly had round tubes, 32-spoke wheels and hubcaps. Although wool jerseys were replaced by more modern ones, they were still far from today’s tight aero jerseys. Now overalls are increasingly used for regular stages as well.

Only over the past decade have we seen the biggest shift in pro racing technology. Aero frames, aero wheels, aero tubes, racing overalls and special aero helmets penetrated the peloton. Sometimes we scoff at the small wattage savings on a new product. But look at the past decade as a whole, and all the “marginal” gains seem to be trending.

As Aerocoach aerodynamics expert Xavier Disley pointed out on Cyclingtips.com, just a 3% reduction in drag could equate to half a kilometer more speed (for speeds of around 40-45km/h) at the same watts. This partly explains why at lower power (with lower watts) the cyclist can go at the same speed. But modern professionals drive even faster with lower watts.

It is true that the faster we go, the harder it is to go, even just a hair, faster. The faster we go, the more aerodynamic drag affects the force needed to increase speed. It sounds obvious, but riders didn’t really understand it for a long time because they couldn’t imagine it.

Professional cyclist Alex Dowsett says a better way to explain the benefits of aerodynamics to riders is not to tell them how many watts they can save, but how much more meters they will have to finish because of the wrong jersey and old helmet.

Aero expert Josh Poertner recently compared Team Motorola’s Eddy Merckx bike from 1990 and the Jumbo-Visma stable’s 2021 Cervelo machine. The results were astounding. Granted, the bikes were tested without a rider, but still, the modern aero bike required 37 watts less at 45 km/h and a staggering 52 watts less at 50 km/h.

The joke is that aerodynamic tricks appeared before, but they were like drops in the ocean of the entire peloton. One or two riders improving aerodynamics had zero impact on the overall speed of the peloton. Now the entire peloton uses aeromaterials and therefore goes faster.

Another turning point is the games around the shoes on the wheels. Today, tubeless tires are a hit instead of galuska. It wasn’t until 2021 that tubeless tires won one of the monuments (the five most famous one-off classics). This year, the winners of the previous four monuments already rode on “tubeless”. And the fifth Lombardy won’t be held until October.

Coincidence or not, average speeds have literally skyrocketed over the last two spring seasons. Professional cycling is notorious for resisting change until someone wins at something new. Then the others quickly follow.

Why are tubeless tires so popular? Because of the ability to use lower pressures, which more and more teams are identifying as a significant factor in reducing rolling resistance. Experts estimate that the transition to tubeless tires and tire pressure optimization over the last decade could have easily caused a 10% reduction in rolling resistance. Which means an increase in speed by additional tiny tenths.

Training methods and overall preparation go hand in hand with new material technologies. Until recently, the motto was, ride more, you’ll go faster. This is no longer the case, as scientists, coaches and riders are realizing new possibilities for more structured training.

It wasn’t that long ago that coaches could fax a generic training plan with time and miles. Now the modern trainer has a variety of apps at his fingertips allowing for truly personalized training plans and intervals based on the rider’s unique physiology. Coaches create intervals based on the rider’s lactate accumulation and excretion rate, aerobic and anaerobic indicators, carbohydrate burning, fat utilization…

Even the well-known Czech cycling coach and sports doctor Karel Martinek confirms how training is changing. “The quality of the training area is improving, things are being used that were not there 15-20 years ago. Today the rider will come from training and before he takes a bath, I already have his numbers. I see where he went and how he went. Watty, heartbeat… it helps the coach tremendously,” he explained to Seznam Zprávy. “Modern training software is used, which helps decipher performance, but also fatigue. We know what we can afford in training, how to drive it away. Today, it is no longer possible to write only training, but analysis is equally important. What is the rider’s “data fatigue”. He doesn’t have to subjectively feel it yet. It monitors sleep, heart rate, sleep in different phases – for example, REM sleep, etc… These are the kind of training bracelets that, for example, the deteriorating indicators of the rider Magnus Cort showed during the Tour de France when he got covid.

But it’s not just new materials, wind tunnels and modern coaching methods. Many teams have performance engineers, race engineers, performance coordinators, data scientists, physiologists, nutritionists and aerodynamicists on hand. Each driver has a team of experts to maximize the performance of the charges.

Altitude training is an absolutely necessary part of modern training. Today, a high-quality three-week “stage” is no longer possible without high-quality high-altitude training, which the teams organize twice before the key race. Team Sky was the first to start doing it on a really scientific level.

Before his successful performance at the Giro, where he finished sixth, Jan Hirt also attended two three-week high-altitude camps in Colombia, where he rode at heights of 2,500 meters.

The understanding of how to supply the human body with the right “fuel” has greatly improved. The days of bagels after a five-hour drive are long gone. Scientific studies, power meters, metabolic testing, and more recently, continuous glucose monitoring help quantify exactly how much energy is needed for optimal performance. Modern performance nutrition makes it much easier to take the right foods and supplements at the right time. Riders who eat and drink enough can repeatedly perform at higher levels for longer periods of time.

It’s impossible to measure exactly how much of a difference all the recent advances in understanding human physiology and modern racing performance have made. There are too many variables at play. But one thing is certain: the modern peloton has more top-level riders than ever before.

The result is harder and faster racing. The long period without races is also a thing of the past.

The new generation of pros coming to the World Tour over the past few seasons has disrupted the long-established script of pro racing. Almost every team has a potential winner for almost every race these days. Because of this, the former calm cannot prevail in the pelotons. Whereas before four or five teams could fight for the top positions, now there are two or three times as many. This causes the fight to start earlier after the start, thus increasing the speed of the peloton.

Experienced riders themselves confirm that they used to be able to rest during certain sections of the race. Now these sections are decreasing dramatically. This also applies to refreshment zones, where previously the race automatically slowed down. This year was no exception when the peloton went through them very quickly.

This year’s world peloton has 50 riders fighting for victory. It used to have stars and then water carriers, now it has stars and then stars that sometimes carry water.

The course of the race has simply changed. It used to be common for breakaway riders to be given more time because it was known that the sprint teams would catch them anyway. Today it is no longer so certain, which is why the peloton gives less space to breakaways. Distances are shortened, which is why you drive faster.

The battle for relegation to the World Tour also came into all of this this year. The International Cycling Union (UCI) has set a firm limit of 18 teams at the top level of professional cycling from 2023-2025 as part of the reforms. It introduced a system by which teams can be promoted or relegated from the World Tour based on sporting performance in the previous three seasons.

Although only 18 teams remain this year, four more second-tier ProTeams will be bidding for next season’s World Tour – Arkéa-Samsic, TotalEnergies, Uno-X and Alpecin-Fenix. This is now reflected in even more intense battles in the peloton.

The storm in technological and training progress, the change in racing style and the increased pressure for year-round results are the cause of even higher speeds.