Are professional drivers really worse than us?

The reality is worse than you think.

In the last round of Beijing Tournament in 2014, I watched the performance of one of the top drivers in the world. At the time, the last section of the 4th station of the Beijing Central Race was the Miaofengshan Hill, with an average slope of 4% on a 19.7-kilometer road. It was also the climbing section of the Beijing amateur rider Zhong Ai. In the circle, the general view was that the climb would be able to enter 60 minutes and be very cattle. Into 50 minutes is the level of the folk god, the most powerful amateur to Wu Yunfei God, his score of 43 minutes and 27 seconds ranked in the Strava this section of the 14th.

This is a very good result, only 15% slower than the top professional drivers - that year's stage champion Philippe Gilbert, in the section of the Miaofengshan, spent 36 minutes and 52 seconds to create the Strava section One record.

More non-principal cyclists like you and me, according to our 80 minutes climb to the top, more than 1 times slower than professional players. At the same time, we must not overlook the fact that in order to reach the foot of Miaofeng Mountain and start this climbing section, professional drivers have already hustled 150 kilometers at a speed of 45 km/h.

In fact, when you look at the world, you will not be able to say that this difference is twice as much.

The Tour de France organizes a stop for L'Etape du Tour each year. Before and after the professional team competition, cycling enthusiasts and professional drivers from all over the world ride on the same route. This way, the enthusiasts and professional drivers compete with each other.


The first L'Etape du Tour was held in 1993. Every year, there are tens of thousands of people attending and it is considered to be the car's Tour de France.

This stage is obviously not a knuckle. It departs from the highest city in France, Briançon, 1326 metres above sea level, and turns eastwards at Embrun. The final destination is Col d'Izoard, 2,360 metres above sea level. The total length is 181 km. The climb of the km reached a slope of 10%.

Thanks to this section, we can use data to examine the horizontal gap between Tour de France champions and amateurs.

In 2015, the Frenchman Jeremy Bescond took first place in the amateur group of L'Etape du Tour. He eventually took 4 hours 52 minutes 44 seconds. Five days later, Vincenzo Nibali won the championship with an average speed of 31.5 kilometers per hour and completed the game in 4 hours, 22 minutes and 53 seconds, an increase of 11%.


The 33-year-old Italian Nibari nicknamed Shark won the Tour de France in 2014.

Considering that Best was still participating in professional games in the previous year, many people thought that the true amateur was counting from William Turnes, who was ranked 5th in the stage, and his age. The group was 40-44 years old and finished 5 hours 02 minutes 56 seconds, 15% slower than Nibali.

The last player in the professional car of that stage was almost on the Katusha team Jacopo Guarnieri. The final time was 4 hours, 53 minutes and 23 seconds. It was only 12% slower than Nibari.

What needs to be explained is that Guarnieri is a sprint-type driver who has to retain his strength for the later stage stage in Paris and has been riding more than 3,000 kilometers in the Tour de France that year.

The result of the competition proved that there was still a difference of 10 minutes between an amateur rider who had burned everything in one day and a crane sprint driver who had saved his strength.

Before the amateur group closed, the final player's finish time was 12 hours 46 minutes and 07 seconds, nearly three times longer than Nibali.

If we go to the end and find a performance that best expresses the intermediate level of amateurs, maybe it is 4982th place, David Hall, who ends at 8:49:07, and is 101% slower than Nibari.

Conclusion: According to the finish time of the road section, professional drivers are usually twice as fast as amateurs.

Biological indicators have more love for amateurs

Matthew Furber, a senior sports scientist, conducted research on VO2max at the GSK Human Movement Performance Laboratory in London.

"VO2max is the maximum amount of oxygen a person uses per minute and is a key indicator of an athlete's ability. In theory, the more oxygen you use in a minute, the more fuel you can produce for your muscles. Its unit of measure It is ml/kg/min (ml/kg/min)."

"The maximal oxygen uptake of an office worker is 30 to 40 ml/kg/min. We usually say that the amateur master's VO2max will reach 60, and the folk gods will have 70+."


Chris Flom, who has recently been annoyed by drug administrators, is testing VO2max.

The performance of professional drivers in the VO2max index is not so much rolling. The VO2max of the 3rd Tour de France champion Greg LeMond was 92.5. In 2012, a driver named Oskar Svendsen reached the peak of humanity with 97.5. The former "Seven Crown" Lance Armstrong only 84.

If we regard 60 as the average value of amateur VO2max, and 80 is the average of professional drivers, then in this indicator, professional drivers have a much smaller advantage, only 33%.

Eddie Fletcher, WattBike’s founder and athletics scientist, said that just looking at VO2max is not enough. It depends on how long this VO2max can last, that is, how long you can stay in the limit. A key indicator of lactate threshold is closely related.

The data show that amateurs' lactic acid production increased by 37.5% at a power output equal to 3 watts per kilogram (W / kg), but increased the power by 3.5 W / kg, a proportion that soared to 62.5%.

At 5.5W / kg (for a 75kg rider, 412W would be fired), amateur players produce 77% more lactic acid than professional players.

Conclusion: than the limit output, ordinary riders can live together to see, but not lasting!

How about specific power?

The Froome data released by the Sky team showed that with a weight of 67 kilograms, during a 41-minute, 28-second ride, the average power output was 414 W, equivalent to 5.78 W/kg.

Tim Kerrison, head of physical fitness at the Sky team, also revealed that at 30 minutes, Froome's work is usually more than 419W (6.25W / kg), and in 60 minutes he is expected to be at 366W (5.46W / kg).

Also worthy of attention is the statistical data of Tom Dumoulin's key stage at the 6th station west of 2015. Du Molin averaged 508.2W in 5 minutes and 55 seconds of climbing, which is equivalent to 7.0W. / kg.

In contrast, the performance of an amateur rider who can climb 60 seconds to climb is generally stable between 4-5 W/kg, which is 57-71% of Dumoulin's output over the same period.

If you think that you are more like a sprinter than a climber, André Greipel's sprint record has exceeded 1,900W, and in 30 seconds duration, the average work is over 1000W. The peak of Mark Cavendish's work has reached around 1600W.

So how much worse than professional drivers?
It depends on which indicator we use. For example, I will choose Chinese and feel that the winner is correct.

-Don't give it up-

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