21 July 2017

How Fast was Bardet on the Izoard?

One of the fun things about Strava is comparing oneself (or one's friends) with a famous rider like Romain Bardet, now in 2nd place overall for this year's Tour, 23 seconds behind Froome.

Yesterday, on the finish climb to the Col d'Izoard, Romain Bardet was SO fast, that he took the Strava KOM ("King of the Mountain" -- fastest time recorded) on the last 2.0 kms, averaging 20.9kms per hour, this on a 9% grade after already having climbed over 3500 meters elevation and ridden 175 kms on the day.

By comparison, a strong rider in the Etape du Tour event there last Sunday ... did the same stretch in 15:25. I would be delighted to finish it in under 20 minutes at the end of such a hard day!


P.S. Did I mention that I met Bardet again last fall year at the Tokyo TdF reception?  Did I? Perhaps I dropped the name once or twice?

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