FDJ pro Kévin Réza says he was “frightened” during yesterday’s Stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse after he hit a speed of 135 kilometres an hour.
The 29-year-old French rider tweeted a picture of his bike computer to Twitter and Instagram yesterday evening, with the comment, “In short, I was frightened.”
Given the profile of yesterday’s stage, won by Bora-Hansgrohe’s Peter Sagan, we’re guessing that top speed was reached on the descent of the Simplon Pass, which featured halfway through the route.
Réza was in the headlines recently after he was racially abused at the Tour de Romandie by Team Sky’s Gianni Moscon. The Italian was subsequently suspended by his team for six weeks.
> Team Sky suspend Gianni Moscon for six weeks for racial abuse
50 thoughts on ““I was frightened” – pro cyclist hits 135 kilometres an hour during race”
“If you’re frightened, you
“If you’re frightened, you shouldn’t be on the fucking road…”
mrml wrote:
Post of the week. 🙂
FDJ race in white shorts,
FDJ race in white shorts, right?
MandaiMetric wrote:
AG2R were of course fully prepared for this situation.
80 mph on 1 square inch of
80 mph on 1 square inch of contact rubber. Don’t think about it! Or look at what your forks are doing.
My pb is a lowly 54mph down the Wicklow Gap in the Ras.
Someone punctured and came off on that occasion. Ouch!
I experienced a minor what-if
I experienced a minor what-if moment when I was at 50mph heading down into Eastbourne, but only because of junctions coming up. I suppose it’s not the speed, it’s the turns and other stuff that make it scary.
Freefall skydivers VMax is about 120mph I think, so he must have been seriously aero on a serious incline… or 135km/h isn’t entirely accurate. I’m slightly sceptical.
ChrisB200SX wrote:
That’s for a “normal” belly-down descent with arms and legs out, basically the slowest way to free-fall. Head-down with arms in will get you to about 200mph.
126kmh is certainly possible down Simplon Pass:
https://www.strava.com/activities/1036306910
ChrisB200SX wrote:
You aren’t confusing mph and km/h are you? 🙂
DaveE128 wrote:
No, but I believe the velominati will scald me for using both?
ChrisB200SX wrote:
I don’t know. I’ve hit 105 – 110kph a number of times in a race (moving through a bunch of loosely bunched cyclists all doing close to 100 kph there’s surprisingly little drag.
My fastest I’m sure of is 122 kph down a 2 km long 12% incline A road surface (Ngauranga gorge in Wellington) coming up behind a bus with a very strong tail wind. Measured on a cateye wired computer, not one of these fandangled sattelite ones…
Re Free fall: Head down pointy arms terminal velocity for a human body is about 220 kph, for a splayed one in flappy clothes is about 170 kph. But remember the cyclist is in a bunch of cyclists doing similar speed, so much less air resistance. The land speed record for a bicycle on the flat is about 250 kph
ChrisB200SX wrote:
Ah but he was pedalling
The Simplon pass is not a
The Simplon pass is not a normal mountain pass road with lots of sharp bends. They’ve all been removed over the years, and the road widened, so you can expect very high speeds whether pedalling or not. There’s a sign on the northbound carriageway at the start of the descent that says “9% 23km”.
135km/h still seems implausible though.
84kph, downhill on a straight
84kph, downhill on a straight road, on a 53/11 and 23mm according to my Garmin…which would be around 140 rpm…so I’d say that was a glitch in the matrix as it was a max speed, and no real sustained effort on my part…around 60kph is well fast enough for me…
There’s a GCN video asking
There’s a GCN video asking pros about their top speeds, Cav did 128 on the Simplon and said Cancellara did 134 the same day, so it’s definately possible on this bit of road.
A few years back I heard Sean
A few years back I heard Sean Kelly claim that he was doing 75mph on an Alpine descent when another rider passed him!
I’ve hit 54 mph while on the
I’ve hit 54 mph while on the brakes, but a guy passed on the tri bars, during a triathlon once. I was on the brakes because I was scared as there were sheep at the side of the road & a wee crop top vest & trunks don’t offer much protection.
Had 123.8km/h out of my R5
Had 123.8km/h out of my R5 with Boras on the Colombiere last year. I only climb so that I can descend!
srchar wrote:
UR awesome.
don simon wrote:
Thanks Don!
srchar wrote:
I’d say you’re nuts, but in a good way, and that is some speed
🙂
I wonder what the tyre
I wonder what the tyre manufacturers think when they hear about this sort of speed on their products….
Morat wrote:
The speed rating on car tyres is related to their ability to withstand heat without material failure. Bicycle tyres heat up a little but to nowhere near the same extent as car tyres, therefore they don’t need to be speed rated.
Seeing how my gps “speed”
Seeing how my gps “speed” indication jumps around when I am going at a steady speed makes me think that any one speed such as on the screen capture may be wildly out.
I am not saying that these speeds are not reached, they might just as likely be higher than lower but I really take them with a pinch of salt.
ooldbaker wrote:
Yeah, I see this quite frequently, I may have missed a segment PR the other week because GPS device thought I had teleported about a quarter of a mile and back again… I was actually pushing along at about 30mph on a road I used to genuinely hold the KOM on by quite a margin. It was so far off that it didn’t think I had done the 3km segment. I knew something wasn’t right at the time because it was reading about 50mph for a bit and then zero.
Top speed is far more likely to be over-calculated, as it compensates for any under-reading, unless you rapidly slow down while it’s lagging it should always overcompensate for the lab.
On a decent surface, good
On a decent surface, good body position, good tyres and the right slope north of 70 mph is entirely possible.
Mid 50s is fastest for me, first done in 1990, don’t like climbing so not too many opportunities to go faster. Some lower grade twisty alpine stuff was fun for me and tunnels you enter at speed and cant see shit with the piss weak sodiums.
The A505 d/c out of luton eastwards is a laugh at around 50 when the HGVs are only just able to get past.
What isn’t is getting a full on tank slapper at mid 40s as you’ve hit two uneven bumps one after another due to shit road dressing.very unpleasant!
The fastest I have hit is
The fastest I have hit is 73kph on closed roads. I wasn’t exactly scared, but was having existential issues thinking about what would happen if I did have a crash.
The fastest segment I’ve done on open road is 63 one of my favourite training routes and I was a couple seconds away from a rare descending KOM, sitting in 3rd place. Then last year I was watching ToB, thinking ‘ooh they are doing the Brickworks climb in Cheshire… wait what way are they turning…?’ I dropped to 56th overnight. Still, 2 seconds behind Ian Stannard and Kristian House on a segment is good company.
Leviathan wrote:
I imagine you mean mph or have a number wrong – I only say this beacause my fastest time is 73kph on open roads, and I’m a bit rubbish.
Jeffmcguinness wrote:
73 kph is still bloody fast. 73 mph would be rare in the pro peloton, extremely rare outside it
Bear in mind that the people posting top speeds of 90/100 kph are the exception rather than the rule.
I’ve been road cycling several years and have only fractionally exceeded 80kph/50mph on a handful of occasions.
Ignore GPS spikes too, it needs to show a build up to the peak and back down for several seconds either side to be sure it’s accurate.
700c wrote:
I imagine you mean mph or have a number wrong – I only say this beacause my fastest time is 73kph on open roads, and I’m a bit rubbish.
— Jeffmcguinness 73 kph is still bloody fast. 73 mph would be rare in the pro peloton, extremely rare outside it Bear in mind that the people posting top speeds of 90/100 kph are the exception rather than the rule. I’ve been road cycling several years and have only fractionally exceeded 80kph/50mph on a handful of occasions. Ignore GPS spikes too, it needs to show a build up to the peak and back down for several seconds either side to be sure it’s accurate.— Leviathan
No mistake, kph. I could go faster if I wanted to hurt myself. It is quite easy to go beyond your skill level, just find a hill big enough. The 63kph, was a pushing down 5%. There seems to be a big difference to handling if you are actually pedalling than if you ae just holding on and letting gravity do its work.
[/quote] 73 kph is still
[/quote] 73 kph is still bloody fast. 73 mph would be rare in the pro peloton, extremely rare outside it Bear in mind that the people posting top speeds of 90/100 kph are the exception rather than the rule. I’ve been road cycling several years and have only fractionally exceeded 80kph/50mph on a handful of occasions. Ignore GPS spikes too, it needs to show a build up to the peak and back down for several seconds either side to be sure it’s accurate.[/quote]
I’m sorry, hitting 90 kph is nothing unusual. I have a 14% straight stretch that I regularly pass 80 kph on and that’s just on my main beat. As mentioned elsewhere I regularly go high 90’s on Ngauranga gorge, and I’m not the fastest strava down there. You know you’re doing 90’s because the speed limit is 80 kph and you’re passing everything.
I think as much as anything this might be terrain dependent, as I’ve searched far and wide and a’not pedalling’ 100kph descent doesn’t exist any where within a 4 hour ride of my place. I lived in for a time Forest Row and there’s a 14% hill there that 90 kph was very easy on. 100 kph was less so due to the exceedingly uneven surface.
I agree 73mph outside of the pro peloton is unusual (I’ve not met any amateur with a top speed higher than my 122) but it’s ‘relatively’ common in the pro peloton, as in I know a lot of pros, and all of them would have touched 120+.
Point is, 90-100kph may be fast to non- racers, but really, it is a relatively common speed. I draft trucks and regularly hit 90 on the flat. Down a hill it’s really not exceptional. 135 is though 🙂
Leviathan wrote:
After putting Live Segments on my strava (yeah I went there) it told me my virtual partner had finished a mile segment when I was about 600m in. I felt slightly better when finding it was pacing me against Stannard as the KOM on ToB…
I once hit 58.9mph on a local
I once hit 58.9mph on a local descent… never went back to see if I could get the extra 1.1mph.
It was terrifying. Couldn’t beleive the difference in perceived speed between say 55mph and 60mph.
Would not like to think about 80mph.
I’ve had 64mph (103-ish kph)
I’ve had 64mph (103-ish kph) on a descent in the Alps and there were French cyclists coming past me. They’d sit up and aerobrake into the corners, whip round them then straight back down into tuck. They did know the descent better than I did though!
Car drivers just get out your way over there was well, it was ace
Mid-high 50’s mph was standard in Spain as well where the huge wide roads and pristine surfacing make those sort of speeds feel far safer than mid 40’s on shit UK roads. I did try for a personal speed record last time I was out in Spain on a road I know well but the wind was in the worng direction for the whole time I was out there. 🙁
Simplon Pass, closed road, tailwind, 135kph would be fairly easy. I remember Cav once posted a similar picture showing him at about 128kph, I think from that same descent.
crazy-legs wrote:
This.
I don’t think I’ve ever been faster than mid-40s in the UK and have been bricking it; mid-50s a few times in Spain and Mallorca and felt much more comfortable.
I’m impressed! Weight really
I’m impressed! Weight really helps for speed, helping e.g. Thor Hushovd to descend like a mad thing, but Kevin Reza is only 11st 4lb. I’d love to know what position he used…
I once saw 109kph / 67mph descending the Agnes into Aulus in the Ariege, but was *really* trying. Speed was accurate as on a magnet driven sensor which I calibrated after for wheel size. The Icing on the cake was the motorist overtaking afterwards shouting ‘Allez Pantani!’
Definitely the only time someone has compared me to him!
Female, 9st 7lb.
jaysa wrote:
I can never tell if a driver is giving you shot or cheering you on as they go past (when a cycling event is going on).
There’s a descent off Cairn O
There’s a descent off Cairn O’ Mount near where I live in Aberdeenshire which is pretty fast. I think the fastest guys on Strava touch 100kph. My fastest there (and anywhere) is 89.6kph open roads. That was on my gravel bike, which feels more stable at those kind of speeds than my road bike.
I had some serious shimmy
I had some serious shimmy once upon a time on a descent, and given that I don’t take part in any races, tend to just ‘take it easy’, and not push the limits on descents. Even if the bike is stable, and you know the road, there are always the unexpecteds like wind gust, gravel, potholes, animals crossing, vehicles pulling out, etc.
This would be an appropriate
This would be an appropriate thread to post the picture of my grazed knee when I came off just after hitting around 54 mph on the Dartmoor Classic a couple of years ago. I have now taken Current Speed and Max Speed off my Garmin display so I don’t try for those kinds of speeds any more…
76kph over a cattle grid in
76kph over a cattle grid in drizzly weather on the dragon ride the other day (coming down from Rhigos). I’ve been faster but that was definitely the scariest.
I hit 100 kph coming off
I hit 100 kph coming off Ventoux towards Malaucene, then I got the dreaded front wheel wobble.
I thought I was going to die.
I gripped the top tube with my knees loosened my grip on the bars and brought the speed back down to 60kph.
It was then that my rear derailleur sheared from the frame and was pulled into the back wheel locking it tight.
The last thing I remember was my back tyre blowing due to the flat spotting.
French hospitals are very good.
Beast719 wrote:
I bet it’s the same place I had my worst ever speed shimmy and the same place Guy Martin crashed his go cart.
Luckily my shimmy disappeared when I unclipped one foot, couldn’t grip the top tube on my compact frame. Nothing else worked
Bye bye Litespeed Mira
I’ve hit the magical tonne a
I’ve hit the magical tonne a few times (or is it ton in metric) and rarely thought that much about it, it’s much scarier for me to be chugging along in a chaingang at 40kph staring at someones arse 5cm from his back wheel!
I’m not a roadie by nature I came about it as a method to train for XC riding so I’m not sure if the extra skills a MTBer has help in descending, for instance I’ve had a road bike drifting and I’ve brought it back, or perhaps it’s confidence.
I’d certainly advocate a multi disciplined approach to riding as all the various skills you learn all compliment each other.
I thought cycling was the new
I thought cycling was the new golf, not the new fishing…
don simon wrote:
Suggest a quick browse over to fish.shimano.com
GPS speed can go a bit wibbly
GPS speed can go a bit wibbly, but it’s generally obvious from looking at the Strava data. My Garmin clocked me at 452mph (sunglasses advised at anything over 400mph) exiting a tunnel on the D1091 between the Col du Lauteret and Bourg d’Oisans. Realistic speeds I’ve seen are more in th 50mph range for a cautious person like me.
I’d believe that speed though for a pro descending on closed roads with good tarmac. But yeah, squeaky bum time.
GPS speed can indeed be
GPS speed can indeed be unreliable, but a speed sensor on the rear wheel sorts that out – and means you can use Zwift without shelling out for a power meter.
There’s a hill near me that’s
There’s a hill near me that’s pretty steep and fairly straight, which I’ve hit 45mph on. I’ve been down it loads of times, raced people down it, all sorts. Last week I went down it with some heavy crosswinds, not even trying to go fast, and started wobbling everywhere, thought I was going to come off, terrifying.
There’s a cat 3 near us with an arrow straight section of about a hundred metres at about 15%. I struggle to go too fast down there as there’s a >90 degree bend at the top, but a motorcyclist who used to ride a bike with us hit mid 50s going down there and left us for dust.
Fastest for me has been 53
Fastest for me has been 53 mph coming down the Coll De Feminia in Mallorca. I’d already descended it a few times so I knew how to take the bends without scrubbing too much speed off. As mentioned by others already, on smooth continental roads it doesn’t feel half as fast or dangerous as it would here in the UK.
Is it worth it though? Even
Is it worth it though? Even for a pro, I’d say no. The people who risk everything to get a Strava KOM make me laugh, you do realize it means absolutely fuck all, right? But you could go off the side of that mountain fairly easily.