Skip to main content
Bicycles

Return to Question

Notice removed Improve details by tdc
Bounty Ended with R. Chung's answer chosen by tdc
Notice added Improve details by tdc
Bounty Started worth 100 reputation by tdc
Tweeted twitter.com/#!/StackBicycles/status/158056948107984896
added images
Source Link
tdc
tdc
  • 1.1k
  • 1
  • 10
  • 20

I was having a look at the average speeds of the winner of the Tour de France over the years on this page. To help things along I put the data into LibreOffice and produced a plot:

Tour de France average speeds

I put on the chart where clipless pedals came in, and I suppose the switch to carbon framed bicycles came in a few years after that (not sure exactly when). What really struck me though was that the average speeds really haven't changed much, especially in the last few years.

There was a big jump in the late 80's/early 90's, some of which could be attributed to the doping practices of the time, but not all of it. Doping of some form or another has been going on since the beginning of the TdF.

It seems really odd to me that given:

  • improved training
  • improved nutrition
  • improved technology

there is only roughly a 10% increase in speed since the 1960s and virtually none in the last decade.

Are we being defrauded by companies trying to sell us all sorts of products (carbon whatnots and sugary goo!)?

Gastone Nencini (1960)Cadel Evans (2011)

I was having a look at the average speeds of the winner of the Tour de France over the years on this page. To help things along I put the data into LibreOffice and produced a plot:

Tour de France average speeds

I put on the chart where clipless pedals came in, and I suppose the switch to carbon framed bicycles came in a few years after that (not sure exactly when). What really struck me though was that the average speeds really haven't changed much, especially in the last few years.

There was a big jump in the late 80's/early 90's, some of which could be attributed to the doping practices of the time, but not all of it. Doping of some form or another has been going on since the beginning of the TdF.

It seems really odd to me that given:

  • improved training
  • improved nutrition
  • improved technology

there is only roughly a 10% increase in speed since the 1960s and virtually none in the last decade.

Are we being defrauded by companies trying to sell us all sorts of products (carbon whatnots and sugary goo!)?

I was having a look at the average speeds of the winner of the Tour de France over the years on this page. To help things along I put the data into LibreOffice and produced a plot:

Tour de France average speeds

I put on the chart where clipless pedals came in, and I suppose the switch to carbon framed bicycles came in a few years after that (not sure exactly when). What really struck me though was that the average speeds really haven't changed much, especially in the last few years.

There was a big jump in the late 80's/early 90's, some of which could be attributed to the doping practices of the time, but not all of it. Doping of some form or another has been going on since the beginning of the TdF.

It seems really odd to me that given:

  • improved training
  • improved nutrition
  • improved technology

there is only roughly a 10% increase in speed since the 1960s and virtually none in the last decade.

Are we being defrauded by companies trying to sell us all sorts of products (carbon whatnots and sugary goo!)?

Gastone Nencini (1960)Cadel Evans (2011)

Source Link
tdc
tdc
  • 1.1k
  • 1
  • 10
  • 20

Why aren't Tour de France riders going any faster?

I was having a look at the average speeds of the winner of the Tour de France over the years on this page. To help things along I put the data into LibreOffice and produced a plot:

Tour de France average speeds

I put on the chart where clipless pedals came in, and I suppose the switch to carbon framed bicycles came in a few years after that (not sure exactly when). What really struck me though was that the average speeds really haven't changed much, especially in the last few years.

There was a big jump in the late 80's/early 90's, some of which could be attributed to the doping practices of the time, but not all of it. Doping of some form or another has been going on since the beginning of the TdF.

It seems really odd to me that given:

  • improved training
  • improved nutrition
  • improved technology

there is only roughly a 10% increase in speed since the 1960s and virtually none in the last decade.

Are we being defrauded by companies trying to sell us all sorts of products (carbon whatnots and sugary goo!)?