Are Cycling Monuments Faster Than Ever? A Data-Driven Look at the Toughest Bike Races

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Analyzing the stats behind some of cycling’s most prestigious races

— In collaboration with Zach Nehr —

The Cycling Monuments separate the good from the great. Legends of the sport have won multiple Monuments, and winning a single Monument can make a rider’s entire career. Some cyclists dream of winning the Tour de France, and some dream of winning a Monument like Paris-Roubaix or the Tour of Flanders.

As some of the most important races in cycling, it’s no surprise that the Monuments are some of cycling’s hardest races. In 2024, not only are the Monuments hard, but they are faster than ever. In recent years, the average speed of cycling Monuments has increased by multiple kilometers per hour. But why?

In this article, we’re going to analyze the statistics of cycling’s Monuments and why they’re faster than ever. 

What Is a Monument?

There are five cycling Monuments: Milan-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and Il Lombardia. It’s difficult to define a cycling Monument and what separates it from other prestigious bike races. But we’re going to try.

A cycling Monument is a one-day race with a long history – a very long history. In fact, the oldest cycling Monument is Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which began in 1892. 

Each Monument is a long, one-day race. Unlike cycling’s Grand Tours, a cycling Monument is won or lost in a single day. Winning a Monument can make an entire career, and they’re getting faster every year.

Reasons Why the Average Speed Is Increasing

Some of the reasons are obvious, like faster bikes. Modern road bikes are lighter, more durable, and more aerodynamic than ever before. That trend, like any piece of technology, will continue to optimize for decades upon decades. 

Other reasons are less obvious, and some performance optimizations have only been discovered in the past few years. 

1. Training and Nutrition

Training methods, for one, have changed over time. Old-school training for professional cyclists was focused on long, low-intensity hours on the bike. There are tales of Eddy Merckx, arguably the greatest cyclist of all time, riding six, seven, or eight hours a day. 

Today’s training is heavily focused on power output, something that Merckx didn’t know about when he was racing. Power meters started being used in cycling a few decades ago, but they have only been mainstream for the last 10 years or so. 

Nowadays, amateur and professional cyclists alike train with power meters, increasing their fitness through structured plans and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). 

In addition to training methods, nutrition has changed a lot in the last few years. Today’s professional cyclists are eating and processing more carbohydrates than ever. 

Ten years ago, it was thought that the ‘human limit’ was the ability to process 100 grams of carbohydrates per hour. Now, professional cyclists consume upwards of 130 grams of carbohydrates per hour during races—and they’re doing it during Grand Tours, too, which means that they’re doing this for 21 stages in a row. 

2. Aerodynamics and Aggressive Racing

One of the most underrated performance improvements in recent years is aerodynamics. Hundreds of riders have gone to the wind tunnel or the velodrome to optimize their riding position, and it’s showing. 

Races are faster than ever because riders are more aerodynamic. At the same power output, a rider with superior dynamics will go significantly faster than a rider with poor aerodynamics. You can see it on television: riders with their elbows bent at 90 degrees and their necks tucked into their shoulders. 

Some riders went so far with optimizing their position, for example, by tilting the shifters inwards, so the UCI banned it in 2024 due to safety concerns.

In addition to body position, every piece of bike equipment is being optimized for aerodynamics. That includes the frame, wheels, tires, handlebars, chainrings, derailleurs, shoes, kit, helmet, socks, and more. 

If each piece of equipment is 1% faster, when you add them all up, it makes a huge difference in how fast these riders are going. 

Lastly, professional bike racing has gotten noticeably more aggressive in the past few years. Many attribute the change to improvements in training and nutrition, which allow riders to race harder and longer than ever before. 

The biggest professional races used to be very different. Typically, an early breakaway would get away, and then the peloton would relax for a few hours. Then, with 1-2 hours to go, the peloton would start racing harder. 

Nowadays, the peloton is racing full gas from start to finish – no lulls. That has pushed the average speeds higher and higher, and the trend only seems to be increasing. 

There were some unusually fast Monuments around 1965, but there are many explanations for this: (now) banned substances, less difficult profiles, and stronger tailwinds, to name a few. 

The first two classics (Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne) in 2024 were the fastest ever in their history (44.691 km/h and 45.147km/h respectively). The data shows a significant increase in average speed in recent years. That’s why I think 45 km/h will become the new norm, at least for the fastest monuments like Paris-Roubaix or Milano–Sanremo. 

If I had to speculate, I think that the increase in average speeds in the future will be less and less based on aero gains (that is, unless the UCI relaxes the rules for bike and equipment design) and more on racing style and overall field level. Naturally, the question arises whether we will ever see average speeds of 50 km/h in the future. At the moment, it may sound like science fiction. But think of a four-minute mile or 2 hours for a marathon. Breaking those limits used to seem impossible too.

TIP: Read the next article in this series: What Makes a Cyclist a Monument Specialist?

Preview picture source: Sirotti