Cadel Evans in Time trial, photo by By nattsang (CC 2.0)
Last Saturday there were two quite different time trials. One was 42km under the glare of the international media, 50% of the Australian and Luxembourgean public glued to their tvs, spectators lining the entire course, and millions of Euros involved in the outcome of the race. Another time trial was 16km under the glare of a few bemused motorists driving up and down the A420 near Kingston Bagpuize, Oxfordshire.
The Oxonian 10 mile(16Km) TT was, in a way, just as competitive, though the top prize of £20 couldn’t quite match the millions in prize money and sponsorship involved in the Tour de France.
The Oxonian CC event was actually raced at a higher average speed (48kmh) per hour for the winner compared to the Tour time trial Tony Martin (HTC) (45Kmph)
A pedant might point out that the professionals had just raced 2000km in the past three weeks, including two brutal Alpine stages in the previous two days. They may also point out their time trial was also quite hilly and they didn’t have the benefit of passing lorries to give them a little push along the way, (but, I bet they didn’t have to wait at roundabouts for slow caravans to make a right turn…)
Oxonian CC 10 Mile Time
- Pettinger Tejvan Sri Chinmoy Cycling Team – 20:14 (48.0 Kmph)
- Cannon Justyn RAF CC – 20:26
- Simpkins Jon www.drag2zero.com – 20:26
- Pancratz Sebastian Beeline Bicycles RT - 20:40
p.s. I fear Luxembourgean is a word that I made up.
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Maybe you will ride the Tour yet?
Like to see what time Tony would do for a 10 in UK with fresh legs:)