The general trend at the Tour de France, since its start in 1903, is that the speed of the riders is going up.
This has happened due to multiple reasons. Mainly it is due to the quality of kit getting better and better every year as science and technology become more and more involved in the sport.
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Bikes and kit becoming as aerodynamic as it is possible to be along with new materials that are faster through the air than human skin itself have changed bike racing hugely in recent years.
On the other side of this, some of the average speeds in past Tours have potentially been due to leading riders having a little extra help than just aero kit and fast rolling tyres.
You won't be surprised to know that the fastest Tour de France on record belongs to a certain Lance Armstrong.
The American former rider had all seven of his Tour titles taken away from him after it was exposed that had doped during all his victories.
He completed the 2005 race with an amazing average speed of 41.7km/h, which is over one km/h faster than the modern day riders who ride with much faster kit.
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On the flip side, the slowest ever Tour was in 1919, after World War One. The race was won by Belgian Firmin Lambot with an average speed of 24.1km/h.
In the last 10 years the pace hasn't differed too much, staying around the 39 - 40km/h mark, but it does look to be steadily increasing as the technology and training means that riders can go faster than ever before.
The fastest ride in the last 10 years goes to Chris Froome's last overall victory in 2017.
The race only had three summit finishes and multiple flatter stages and a lot of long descents along with two time trials, which explains the higher than normal speed.
The last two editions of the race have both been around 200km shorter than the 2017 race.
Tour de France average speed (last 11 editions)
2009, Alberto Contador: 40.03km/h
2010, Andy Schleck: 39.59km/h
2011, Cadel Evans: 39.79km/h
2012, Bradley Wiggins: 39.93km/h
2013, Chris Froome: 40.68km/h
2014, Vincenzo Nibali: 40.68km/h
2015, Chris Froome: 39.64km/h
2016, Chris Froome: 39.63km/h
2017, Chris Froome: 41.00km/h
2018, Geraint Thomas: 40.23km/h
2019, Egan Bernal: 40.58km/h
