bikeradar just put up some stats from the tour, and these ones grabbed my attention:

78.48 km/h (48.77 mph) – John Degenkolb (Stage 5)
76.46 km/h (47.51 mph) – André Greipel (Stage 8)
75.13 km/h (46.68 mph) – Peter Sagan (Stage 7)
64.67 km/h (40.18 mph) – John Degenkolb (Stage 10)
62.96 km/h (39.12 mph) – Thomas De Gendt (Stage 18)

question is, were any of these sprint finishes slightly downhill, stage 5 for example, or were they really reaching almost 49mph on flat ground?

Flat ground and cobbles in one of those… 😀

Stage 5 finish was flat, and into a headwind to boot.

that is mental, I struggle to go over 30 on the flat!

in fact thinking about it now, my fastest ever speed on a descent was only 47mph, just makes you realise how much more powerful the pros are

Sprints are impressive, but it’s the average speeds of the best climbers that make me wince 🙁

TBH the speeds for stages 10 and 18 don’t seem that high. I’m sure there are a few 1st and 2nd cats that could manage that at the end of a criterium (but not during a three week tour!) Were those stages into the the wind or uphill?

Stage 10 was a mountain top finish won by Froome. Don’t know where Degenkolb was supposed to be doing 40mph

Degenkolb Stage 10 was the intermediate sprint

Could have been the intermediate sprint i suppose

EDIT: Like he ^ said

intermediate sprint maybe?

I can’t remember the stage but Cav, Renshaw and Kwiatkowski were exchanging tweets about their top speed on a descent, 107kph was the top speed. Now that is impressive.

yeah cav has been interviewed and said his highest speed ever was a descent in Switzerland I think, where he went over 120kph

apparently Lars Boom got the highest recorded speed on this years tour: 109kph (67mph)

They averaged about 34 mph in the team time trial.

Thor Hushovd was regularly going 70mph + on descents a few years ago

top speeds in the Alps are notoriously inaccurate, on Garmins at least. I did a week there and my top speeds each day were between 70 and 90mph. I was doing a tad less.

Impressive speeds.

I have always found the idea of sprinters doing the tours hard to understand. I would have thought that sprinters would want to sprint and not drag themselves through 3500km of mountains for the sprint finishes at the end of some of the stages. Unless I am missing something?

Prestige of TdF stage wins I’d say Hooli, especially on the Champs Elysees, it’s the stage to win all year as a sprinter.

I have always found the idea of sprinters doing the tours hard to understand. I would have thought that sprinters would want to sprint and not drag themselves through 3500km of mountains for the sprint finishes at the end of some of the stages. Unless I am missing something?

I think the thing you’re missing is that it is a grand tour, the prestige of winning a Tour, Giro or Vuelta stage is huge, well worth the pain in the hills.

Ask yourself why we know who Cav is, because he won Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne twice and Milan-San Remo once? Or because he’s won 26 Tour de France stages?

I wonder how many stage wins Cav has left in him.
Seems likely that he could sneak past Hinault’s 28 record,but Merckx at 34? 😯

I wonder how many stage wins Cav has left in him.
Seems likely that he could sneak past Hinault’s 28 record,but Merckx at 34?

He’s not getting any younger is he!

In truth, as I see it for sprinter like Cav to be in with a chance of winning stages, he is dependent on a team around him that is set up to help drag him round the mountains and deliver him in the perfect spot on each stage with 200m to go. In the past he’s had that, but recently his lead out train hasn’t been as good. In particular once Renshaw had gone he never really looked like he’d be in contention. Word is he might be with a new team next season, interesting to see if he takes Renshaw with him and whether or not it is set up purely to compete for Sprint wins..

Interestingly, Merckx was 30 when he won his final two stages. Cavendish turned 30 in May. If I was a betting man I’d put money on him not doing it…

top speeds in the Alps are notoriously inaccurate, on Garmins at least

Not if you have a speed sensor as most of the pros do. Then it will be spot on.

The GPS speed will be bobbins as they don’t cope well with rapid altitude changes but given the pros mostly have speed sensors, all their times are in the same ballpark and tally with their overall times for the descents I’m pretty confident they are accurate.

Even the pros need a long straight bit to hit 100kph though.

Don’t forget Cav has won more mass start stages than anyone else. Those ahead of him are there from wins in time trials.

Cav won’t get any more Stages next season when he’s being led out by EBH…

It seems a bit of the hunger has gone from Cav, maybe the kids and the crash last year have flicked the “this stuff can be quite dangerous” switch in his brain. Damon Hill said he reached a point where he just couldn’t find the motivation to race (I’d argue it was quite some time before he retired) given the dangers, the success he’d already had and the money that came with that success and he really wanted to be there for his family in one mostly functional piece.

Cav won’t get any more Stages next season when he’s being led out by EBH

Though Renshaw in the train between them is not that bad, get Eisel in there as well and you have a pretty good train actually.

But Bernies with Sky, Cav (ATM) with Etixx, Renshaw at Etixx etc. etc.

I think if Lefevre will back Cav (and I think he will for another year) then Cav will stay with a huge potential to win at least another 10 stages.. however I think Cav will get a fab offer from Trek who are in dire need of winning Something at least, but can’t see Renshaw going with him. Which leaves who will drag Cav around and offer him up in the last 500mtrs?

I can’t see Dimension *formerly MTN* Qhubeka signing Renshaw and Eisel as well if the rumours about Cav are indeed true. EBH is past his best too and short of some other handy signings he won’t have much support at Qhubeka. Whatever happens, it will be very tough for Cav to add to his tally, especially if people like Kittel come back to form