Kipchoge is an aerobic monster. How would he fare if he competed in the Tour de France? Given his light bodyweight, could he keep up with the best climbers like Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel on the mountain stages?
kipchoge does quite a bit of cycling so this question isn't as stupid as it sounds. but obviously he would finish last by a long way. completely different muscles used, you need big quads and they are less used in running except for downhills. we know that kipchoge struggles with hills in running anyway.
his best chance to win would be to engineer a crash in the peloton. the same as he did for kiptum.
Kipchoge is an aerobic monster. How would he fare if he competed in the Tour de France? Given his light bodyweight, could he keep up with the best climbers like Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel on the mountain stages?
He would obviously win, just like Tadej Pogacar would easily run both halves of a marathon in :59:XX and just run away from the field by 3-4 minutes ... because he is an aerobic monster.
He'd crush the field for sure. Pacing in cycling is exactly the same as in running. Drafting? So easy to pick up. Bike handling? No problem!! Race strategy? Child's play. Eating on the bike? Took me two seconds to master. Positioning on the TTs? Learned it from a D3 miler. Using radios? You can do it in your sleep.
Lol you can't be serious. If all it took was being an aerobic monster, every runner that narrowly missed out on the Olympics would just go to the Tour for a fat paycheck. There's a reason it's so hard to make a WorldTour team, let alone get selected for their TdF squad.
He would be absolutely crushed as mentioned above. I'm nowhere near an elite, but it took me a few years of focusing heavily on the bike to come anywhere close to my "running equivalent" when I started tris. It can be pretty humbling (and frustrating) to have completely dead legs and a heart that's barely beating, it's not a 1:1 by any stretch.
In terms of successful crossovers, Michael Woods is probably the best example if you want to look him up. Sub 4 miler before retiring from running due to injuries and picking up cycling seriously. He's completed the TdF and is a world class climber that has won a few climb stages in tours.
Not sure why this is getting so much hate, it’s an interesting thought experiment. Running is objectively harder than cycling (burns more calories, full body weight), so I think Kipchoge would do better crossing over to cycling than Armstrong did in a marathon. However, even peak Kipchoge would probably need 1-2 years of dedicated training to be relevant in the Tour, because his legs wouldn’t be ready for a 3 week GT off of nothing.
Said differently, I think Kipchoge, Bekele, Halie, Jakob etc could probably be Tour winners if they had dedicated their lives to it. I’m not sure Pogacar would be Oly champion in the marathon even if he dedicated his life to it.
He would be absolutely crushed as mentioned above. I'm nowhere near an elite, but it took me a few years of focusing heavily on the bike to come anywhere close to my "running equivalent" when I started tris. It can be pretty humbling (and frustrating) to have completely dead legs and a heart that's barely beating, it's not a 1:1 by any stretch.
In terms of successful crossovers, Michael Woods is probably the best example if you want to look him up. Sub 4 miler before retiring from running due to injuries and picking up cycling seriously. He's completed the TdF and is a world class climber that has won a few climb stages in tours.
Yes, I can rarely get my heart rate up when cycling because my legs simply aren't strong enough.
You are way overestimating the similarities between these two sports and the overlap in skillset. At a regionally competitive level, the overlap is relevant (you need a big engine and good endurance), but once you get to the pinnacle of these sports, the athletes are vastly differentiated physically, and in terms of skillset.
Differentiating traits that make a cyclist competitive in the tour might include (plenty of other traits Im leaving out):
- Durability - training the mileage to be competitive in a marathon requires durability, but racing for 20+ days is different.
- Ability to Punch - Even endurance cyclists need to maintain a LOT of top end power. This isn't the same as closing speed for a marathon runner, this is the ability to punch repeatedly in attacking or responding to attacks. You need to be both a marathoner and an 800 runner.
- Bike handling skill, ability to read the race, etc... - these are very specific cycling skillsets that are almost innate to the top road racers, or at have at least been cultivated since most of them were children. Descending is probably not a skillset that Kipchoge could ever develop at his age for example. You can't just pick this stuff up in a couple of years.
Not sure why this is getting so much hate, it’s an interesting thought experiment. Running is objectively harder than cycling (burns more calories, full body weight), so I think Kipchoge would do better crossing over to cycling than Armstrong did in a marathon. However, even peak Kipchoge would probably need 1-2 years of dedicated training to be relevant in the Tour, because his legs wouldn’t be ready for a 3 week GT off of nothing.
Said differently, I think Kipchoge, Bekele, Halie, Jakob etc could probably be Tour winners if they had dedicated their lives to it. I’m not sure Pogacar would be Oly champion in the marathon even if he dedicated his life to it.
Tell us you don't cycle without telling us you don't cycle. Do you also think skinny little runners could be elite swimmers if they had dedicated their life to it because they're both aerobic sports?
Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win a LetsRun t-shirt.Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win one of 10 LetsRun t-shirts.