Strava times tumble after Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic race

Yesterday, after 20,000 cyclists had embarked on a 100-mile course through London and Surrey, and the inaugural RideLondon-Surrey Classic pro race had been won by Frenchman Arnaud Demare, hundreds, if not thousands, of people uploaded their rides to Stava. Team IG Sigma Sport’s Peter Hawkins, who finished 74th overall in the pro race, certainly did.

What’s really interesting is that Hawkins is one of a handful of professional cyclists signed up to Strava. And as we found during the Tour de France with Laurens Ten Dam, that allows us unprecedented access to just how fast and hard the pros race. We all knew that pros are fast, now we know just how fast they are with complete transparency.

And they work hard too. Hawkins averaged 162 bpm and hit a maximum heart rate of 198 bpm during the 221km race. With just 2,107m of climbing, including three ascents of Leith Hill and once up Box Hill, the pace was high with an average speed of 42.7 km/h. We can also see that he hit a top speed of 112 km/h on the Leith Hill descent. That’s closed roads for you.

Hawkins, along with a handful of other pros using Strava, have also toppled many KOMs along the route, significantly raising the level of hundreds of segments on the closed road route.  No one will be troubling the top of the leaderboards on any of those roads until the 2014 edition of the race. Here's his full ride on Strava.

Did you ride yesterday and upload your ride to Strava?