Pros hit astonishing speeds of more than 130kmh on Tour de Suisse descent

Descent off the Simplonpass sees many hit their fastest speeds of the season
Henry Robertshaw

It may not have played much of a part in determining the result of stage five of the Tour de Suisse, but the descent off the Simplonpass will probably be the most memorable moment of yesterday’s stage for most of the riders.

The wide, well-surfaced descent saw the riders hit some astonishing speeds, with a number hitting top speeds of more than 130kmh (80mph), making this one of the fastest descents that they will do all season.

>>> Chris Froome’s descending position slower than Peter Sagan’s or Marco Pantani’s, study finds

According to Strava, Mike Teunissen and Ben King  were two of a number of riders to go north of 130kmh, although we can write off Jelle Wallays’ 214.6kmh and Steve Morabito’s 318.2kmh as problems with the data.

Many riders took to Twitter to show off their top speeds, but hoping that no one would show their nearest and dearest.

Maximum speed 119,25km/h without any protection this give you some great feelings. Like driving 350km/h with a car i guess?

A post shared by Philippe Gilbert (@philippe_gilbert_) on

The riders might be happy to hear that there shouldn’t be quite such fast descending on today’s stage six, with only a short descent off the San Bernadino pass midway through the 160km stage with a summit finish at La Punt.