Mike Woods set to become first ever sub-4 miler and Tour de France finisher... How would today’s distance stars fair?

StagnantDynamo wrote:

https://cyclingtips.com/2019/07/mike-woods-the-first-man-to-run-a-sub-4-minute-mile-and-finish-the-tour-de-france/

The UMich alum and former teammate of Nick Willis is set to become the first ever sub-4 miler and TDF finisher.

On that note: how many of today’s current distance runners could finish the Tour given, say, a year of cycling training? Who? Could any (Kipchoge, Farah, Rupp?) contend for top 10/3 in the GC?

No chance.

He did well in many stages as well.

Good cyclists and middledistance-runners share the kind of musclefibers that make them good at their sports.

strong legs wrote:

StagnantDynamo wrote:

https://cyclingtips.com/2019/07/mike-woods-the-first-man-to-run-a-sub-4-minute-mile-and-finish-the-tour-de-france/

The UMich alum and former teammate of Nick Willis is set to become the first ever sub-4 miler and TDF finisher.

On that note: how many of today’s current distance runners could finish the Tour given, say, a year of cycling training? Who? Could any (Kipchoge, Farah, Rupp?) contend for top 10/3 in the GC?

No chance.

Seriously? Kipchoge's aerobic engine, mental toughness, and life at high altitude would definitely translate to the bike. A year of training would be enough time to learn the aerodynamics/descending skills needed to contend.

Rupp's a little harder to predict. But if Alberto put his mind together with the best coaches in cycling I'd predict a top-50 finish at the very least.

He also finished with broken ribs. What kind of PEDs do you have to take, ie., Main killers to finish mountain stages with freshy broken ribs?

Woods was an outstanding runner. He was an age group record holder, sub 4 miler, and is the Canadian Junior 3000m record holder. Unfortunate injuries contributed to his switch to cycling. Even with a huge aerobic engine, great speed endurance and work ethic from years of highly successful running the translation of all he had going for him as a great runner to the world of pro cycling has been a huge challenge. He is incredible. He has left a lot of skin on the pavement and paid some huge dues to get to his well earned place in the peloton. He makes watching the Tour de France exciting again because he will attack and shake things up.

You are right. No chance. None at all.

A year? Try 5 years minimum of the highest level coaching and progressive competition. The cyclists in the Tour de France are at it for 21 days in a race that goes 100+ miles most days up and down mountains. On the flat stages they are flying and the athletes are all extremely good bike handlers and racers.

No distance runner is going to train for a year on the bike and have any chance of being competitive.

No, one year would not be nearly enough time. It took Mike Woods 10+ years to reach this point.

Hardloper wrote:

No, one year would not be nearly enough time. It took Mike Woods 10+ years to reach this point.

+1

in addition, it seems to be the 800/1500 guys that have the right mix of power and engine to convert well to cycling. i see it on the local level. the good former 10k/marathon guys move through the lower categories quickly but once the cream rises to the top, it's the former middle distance guys that excel.

StagnantDynamo wrote:

https://cyclingtips.com/2019/07/mike-woods-the-first-man-to-run-a-sub-4-minute-mile-and-finish-the-tour-de-france/

The UMich alum and former teammate of Nick Willis is set to become the first ever sub-4 miler and TDF finisher.

On that note: how many of today’s current distance runners could finish the Tour given, say, a year of cycling training? Who? Could any (Kipchoge, Farah, Rupp?) contend for top 10/3 in the GC?

No one could do it off of a year’s training. Give cyclists some credit.

I think Rupp has the frame, work ethic and consistency to have been a contender if that were his interest.

Dude, it's "fare".

If we grant for a moment that the top cyclists in the world are roughly equivalent to the top mid-d/long-distance runners in the world in terms of talent and ability, no way anybody would make the transition from top-level in one sport to the other in one year. There might be a few very specific things somebody like Kipchoge could do well after a year, like a time trial on a long uphill course, but he wouldn't be a useful member of a TdF team.

And given that cycling requires more technical skill, I think it would generally be more difficult to transition from elite runner to elite cyclist than vice versa.

Also, I believe that almost every runner who ever broke 18 for 5k has a misguided secret suspicion that they would crush most/all pro cyclists on the big mountain climbs.

Huffy McGillicuddy wrote:

Also, I believe that almost every runner who ever broke 18 for 5k has a misguided secret suspicion that they would crush most/all pro cyclists on the big mountain climbs.

+1

It is pretty funny to see the guys who crush it on the local bike path get creamed on the race rides.

Seriouslee? wrote:

strong legs wrote:

No chance.

Seriously? Kipchoge's aerobic engine, mental toughness, and life at high altitude would definitely translate to the bike. A year of training would be enough time to learn the aerodynamics/descending skills needed to contend.

Rupp's a little harder to predict. But if Alberto put his mind together with the best coaches in cycling I'd predict a top-50 finish at the very least.

Yes, seriously. One year won't be enough, and if he tried he will be lucky to be the lantern rouge. It is idiotic of you to think that it only takes knowing aerodynamics/descending skills to be a decent cyclist to contend, obviously you have no idea of what you are talking about, just another stupid fantasy question from someone that probably hit puberty a week ago.

...and also, saying you "predict a top-50 finish at the very least" is kind of meaningless. They don't really compete much for place in the GC standings after the first 10-15 finishers. 30th, 50th, 70th - it's all the same.

Huffy McGillicuddy wrote:

If we grant for a moment that the top cyclists in the world are roughly equivalent to the top mid-d/long-distance runners in the world in terms of talent and ability, no way anybody would make the transition from top-level in one sport to the other in one year. There might be a few very specific things somebody like Kipchoge could do well after a year, like a time trial on a long uphill course, but he wouldn't be a useful member of a TdF team.

I don't grant that, I think the number of people in the world who are competitive cyclists is much smaller than the number of runners, and the amount of specialization is also a lot greater.

I also think middle distance runners would make the best cyclists. Even the climbers have a ton of leg muscle. I just don't see Eliud putting out the watts.

Running economy dosent translate to the same in cycling. Cycling is more about wat. But that dosent meen many runners cant be bikers. But I believe few East africana can. They are often good at burning fat for fuel

None could contend, but I suppose there might be an outside chance that some could finish under inside of the time cuts. I also agree it would be better for a middle distance guy. Centro would be a good bet, explosive yet still quite lightly framed. The biggest problem would be bike handling actually. It's no joke going down those big mountains, or riding in a big pack.

I'm a sub 4 miler who transitioned to fairly serious cycling after my running career. The people posting about Rupp, Farah, Kipchoge, any other long distance guy-- no way. Those guys are aerobic beasts and efficient runners but such a suggestion fails to understand how important power is in cycling, even to climbing specialists. Long distance guys just lack power, even the relatively more powerful ones like Farah and Rupp. They might be able to climb a really steep hill well on a bike (which is basically like running) but that's the only thing they'd be good at.

You really have to look to mid distance guys since they have power and aerobic ability. Blankenship or Yorks. These powerfully built guys would probably make the best cyclists out of the top tier of runners. Centro is tiny with big power:weight but lower on absolute power so I could see him going uphill fast but he'd probably struggle at other situations like TT, small breakaways, or crosswinds.

To be clear, it would still take years of full-time cycling to get anywhere close to the pro ranks, and most of them would wash out along the way.

Mike Woods is the exception, not the rule.

The question as to whether one could “finish” the tour probably isn’t the fairest to his accomplishment.

I think the question is whether one could work his way up through the sport, earn a pro contract, make his way onto a tour-level team, then make the tour squad from the many guys on that team, etc. it would be a long and arduous process competing against many other gifted athletes who are almost all far more experienced.

I lived and raced in Colorado for three years, transitioning from distance running through cycling (criterium and road racing) and finally into triathlon. I’ll tell you, until you’ve bombed down a mountain at 50-55 mph, you just can’t imagine what it’s like to develop the technical side of the sport.