Beginner Vs Amateur Vs Olympic Champion | How Fast Are Pro Track Cyclists?

Riding the boards of a velodrome is a cycling experience different to any other. Fixed gear bikes, steep bankings and incredible speeds in close proximity to one another make track races some of the most exciting bike races to watch. But just how fast are Olympic trackies compared to us mere mortals?
We sent our very own Alex Paton to the Lee Valley Velodrome to meet up with a track cycling beginner, and multiple Olympic gold medallist Ed Clancy, for a race. Who will win? Nobody knows! (We all know).
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Leave us a comment below!

[@gcn]

What did you think of the race? Let us know in the comments! 👇

[@evenisstonejahbiniam554]

You guys are really Amazing 😉. Can you please make videos about Eritrean 🇪🇷 cycling bc it’s has been amazing for last years!!!

[@andyclark8991]

A woman, the non runner, lol, lol

[@Chris-0703]

A segment that I think would be helpful for a lot of cyclists is to analyze the workout benefits of going hard for a short distance (40km) vs endurance riding (100km+).

[@taufikabidin412]

Surprised its not Hank or Manon for this

[@andyclark8991]

Taufik I 100% agree with you, where’s Manon.

[@eyenoball]

Next challenge: Brother-in-law-Nigel VS Brother-in-law Elliot

[@TreyGruel]

Come on! ... vs Hank's Dad!

[@TheSamwhyte]

Alex, what happened old boy!? Only 7 seconds quicker than Elliot and he was even going up the banks!? 😳🙈😇 Looks like Ollie’s hour record is safe!

[@prestachuck2867]

Ollie’s hour record is safe…until Elliot breaks it…next month.

[@chrisridesbicycles]

DS Manon was missing. 😂

[@jifdave]

Elliott must have done about 1050m!

[@KitagumaIgen]

@@chrisridesbicycles She clearly had a lot of very important typing to do and didn't have the time...

[@CliffeDuffield]

Alex knows the times, but still has a "guess" at his result AND gets it wrong.

[@arianewell6252]

It’s what he had guessed before he knew.

[@anthonylane4038]

Haha

[@LUCYDIAMONDBOXER1]

My wife has booked me a Velodrome taster session in Manchester for my birthday....my first words were "Did you not see Connor on the GCN track day episode!" Connor has transferred the fear 😂

[@imperialspy3457]

I don't know why Conor was like that. My biggest fear was stopping and once I got that I was good.

[@LUCYDIAMONDBOXER1]

@@imperialspy3457 is that because of having no brakes? Is the curve quite steep?

[@driwen]

@@LUCYDIAMONDBOXER1 the curves are somewhere between 33 degrees and 45 degrees. And degrees are not equal to the percentage you see mention on roads. 30% climb is 18,4 degrees. But you arent climbing the curve at that angle. So it is mostly that it looks very steep, but you can get around a track safely with a reasonable amount of speed.

[@taufikabidin412]

@@driwen reasonable amount of speed

[@LUCYDIAMONDBOXER1]

@@driwen cheers for the break down of the curve. Should be able to get to a reasonable amount of speed and hold my nerve 😂

[@andreaskuckuck5829]

They averaged 41, 45 and 55 km/h from a standing start. This is very impressive.

[@davidgrevenkamp7740]

Thanks for translating the times into something more tangible. 10 km/h difference is massive.

[@Yosser70]

The power difference would be huge! I’d say going 10km/h faster would need nearly double the power!

[@jayw900]

In freedom units thats 25, 28 and 34.

[@gamma_dablam]

@@jayw900 'freedom units' lmao

[@gamma_dablam]

@@Yosser70 F = 0.5Cd rho v^2 where Cd is coefficient of drag of the object, rho is fluid density and v is magnitude of velocity.

[@mildpandemic3944]

Most of Ed's 78 kilos seem to be in his thighs.

[@alexjohnson6462]

Something tells me this was Alexs' attempt to establish a pecking order in the family tree to show his future brother-in-law who the Alpha is by destroying him in a public event. Probably did not go quite as well as intended. 🤣

[@MadeiraAirport]

4:18 that trophy at Alex window... I needed to watch 3 times to reckon that's a bike...

[@ReillyMichael]

I feel that GCN put a overly higher value on their waterbottles

[@Kimberly_Sparkles]

It makes you sure you know what they give employees for their 1 year anniversary with them. Wonder what year the GCN Ass savers are?

[@lbco5229]

Alex being an ex-pro road cyclist is not quite what I’d consider ‘amateur.’

[@stormmccree8238]

I think it’s more of a reference to his riding pace. He dose not ride at pro level race pace anymore. Though if he wanted to he would probably crush most face paced group rides.

[@thomasmccormack1980]

Keep pedalling. What a tip! 🤣 manon and co, superb as always.

[@markowsley4954]

Around 1990 Olympian Carl Sundquist showed up on a single speed bike at our every Saturday morning group ride in the Ft Lauderdale area. While we were all killing ourselves he was nice and relaxed, having conversations. When he realized he was going to be late for an appointment he motored off and dropped us like we standing still. It was a very humbling experience. I have to say that he was also a heck of a nice guy. More than willing to talk to us before the ride about his experiences in the Olympics.

[@natillano]

Alex: Are you ready? Eli: Not really Alex: Fantastic!

[@liamkaloy]

if Eliot would race on the bottom of the track he would be very close to Alex, maybe even he would beat him

[@stevemawer848]

Yeah, Elliot rode a lot further than 1km!

[@leightondavies8884]

“Brace for impact “ -- love it 😂

[@stewarthinsley6995]

Great video again 👌 the beginner was nearly not a beginner, good time fella. Would like to see you guys take on hardknott with a weight jacket that takes you up 100kg and see how you rate up against a rider of that weight. Based on a 100kg rider having to ride with this weight all the time, would be interesting to see if you GCN guys and girls can adapt to that weight on the big climbs 😄👍

[@galenkehler]

Congrats to Ed on taking home the best prize of his career, we've often said that's the one glaring hole in what is otherwise a great palmarès 🥇

[@moonlight5050]

You could knock 8 seconds off Elliot as he went round half way up the track...!!! 🤣🤣👌

[@Mububban23]

The first time you ride a velodrome, it’s hard to overstate how intimidating the angle of the banking at each end is 😳

[@ChrisGuarraia]

Would love to see the same challenge with an aero bike. Then maybe redone after 4-6 weeks of track-specific workouts to see how all three improved.

[@ajl2346]

These guys have no idea how absolutely insane a 1:05 is! Especially on that bike

[@anthonylane4038]

Solid ride.

[@scottbert9556]

I'd need roughly a half hour head start to have a chance in this one.

[@PeeJay13101980]

Elliot was cycling a lot more distance. He is above the blue line quite a few times. If he is on average 3 meters above the black line, he was doing over 268 meters a lap. Roughly 1075 meters in total. Taking his that into account, his time for 1000m would have been 1.20-1.21, on par with Alex. Even more impressive than it already was.

[@itsmark3824]

Alex is such a polished presenter he can completely change clothes mid sentence.

[@elhoover]

Brother-in-law to be Elliot is a great sport!

[@jodim739]

Alex should be the beginner, and Manon as the amateur

[@lukewalker1051]

Would love to see a redo with Manon the track sprinter...maybe get Simon and Ollie out there too.

[@fcv1967]

Manon would easily get less than 1.00

[@Tibovl]

@@fcv1967 The world record is 1:06....

[@fcv1967]

@@Tibovl She clearly rocks my world, so..

[@grahamphillips2375]

Ed Clancy, Legend.

[@filippopogacar]

3.42 when I see Manon I’m happy

[@KirillAfonin]

I never thought this could happen, but your videos make me wanna try some velodrome riding

[@imperialspy3457]

Do it, it's great fun.

[@BongyBarbosa]

Ed you Legend, you've still got it big style.

[@robertdixon8238]

What would the results have been with identical bikes and kit? Unfair comparison given the vast differences between the bikes! Congratulations and kudos to Elliot!

[@michaelstleger9888]

Its a bit of a marketing thing. Bikes make very little difference. No one was on a lo pro so its a second or two maximum IMO. Ed would win on a gravel bike

[@TeKaMOTO]

If you had, for example, the average speeds of each riders' last 3 rides in the introduction it would make it much easier to gauge the level each rider is at. Maybe something to consider for the next edition of this type of video?

[@paramedicbarber974]

I reckon you should do a similar race but with the amateur on the actual race bike

[@matteoformenti8596]

great velodrome ! Greetings from Italy !

[@thebr0wnhornet]

4 gcn presenters vs Si on the hope lotus

[@hiddenrob6289]

Love from the east coast, love the cylcling videos just what I need to get it going the blood I love it. I always watch these before I go out and get my body moving. I always watch one of these, and then put up my heavy playlist like Delta Parole, Three Days Grace, System and then I just go haaaaard!!!! Tactic hasnt let me down yet.

[@NikFowler]

Thumbs up for Ed alone! Hope he's coming back to future videos!

[@GOLTEB]

Ed, for a guy who seems like who absolutely despise this event and got a gold medal at the Olympics seems unbelievable

[@andrew7taylor]

He was an enduro type track rider. He won his golds in the team pursuit and was also world champion in the omnium. He may have despised the kilo. That's why he didn't ride it as a professional. It's for sprinter type guys.

[@nstrug]

Everyone hates the kilo. That last lap is just awful, and if you are unfortunate enough to suffer from ‘kilo cough’ it’s even worse when it’a over.

[@jascollinscork]

Great video..... would like to see and hear more with Ed Clancy 🤔👌🏻

[@taufikabidin412]

GCN family time are always good

[@RicardoRodriguez-mh7my]

Ayyo, in the beginning it looks like he's at that one part of the Call of Duty Warzone map🤣🤣

[@jrae5085]

More track racing episodes! Got to get Si on the velodrome somehow.

[@photodog13]

One of the tips from Ed Clancy could have been to follow the lowest black line.

[@bikeanddogtripsvirtualcycling]

4:00 minutes in to the video - that object on the window sill has a very "cough cough" interesting profile 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@ethangodridge6833]

Ed is class. Shook his hand whe he came to my school 8 years ago.

[@RoScFan]

Kinda... really cool and amazing they could get in touch with an OLYMPIAN! I mean talk about having contacts...

[@Star14trek]

So how much time did the lotus bike save? The beginner who road high would have been 4 sec+ ? If rode nearer bottom ? So may be may need Manon next time😁

[@bubblesezblonde]

I think they are teasing the Lotus as their 'toy' when they once again try to defeat the SiBorg in a 4 on one TT.

[@camwallcar1210]

My hopes of making the 1:08 qualifying time for my uni team just went down the drain seeing Ed Clancy do a 1:05 :/

[@chrispyy606060606]

Very cool, would have been awesome to have power recorded too. (I know you can’t look at it during but just recording it with Assioma pedals would have been really interesting.

[@lesliereissner4711]

Even with Manon'"s valuable advice, Alex was barely faster than Elliot, who has only ridden on a track twice and was not given proper instructions about riding on the blue line. And that Lotus bike is just so ugly compared to the stunning one that Boardman used in Barcelona. Happily, it won't be setting any trends after Tokyo. Fun video! Let's see a Madison challenge now and bring in Conor.

[@dynosores888]

It would have been super to have the power values for the runs ...

[@DavidvanderWant]

The relationship between wind resistance and speed is not linear. Sums up a lot

[@gorloff]

Very good video, you all three did well

[@GeekonaBike]

The hire track bikes look a lot like the Ron Kitchen track bike I raced in the 70's

[@nstrug]

They are custom-built steel framed Condors and actually really nice.

[@matteodiluce9387]

What would Manon in the Milan SL have done? 1:04?

[@stormmccree8238]

They shoulda all went at the same time. That would be neat

[@jonahjenkinss]

I’ll be honest, I’ve heard from people that worked there they really pissed about with the lee valley workers. Only going on the track for ‘10 mins’ when they weren’t even meant to be on track. They stayed on for 45 mins and then went back on without any workers there to supervise.

[@matt99943]

Should put everyone on hire bikes, that mavic rear wheels worth as much as a hire bike

[@latishaashford8662]

This bike was really easy to assemble kzbin.infoUgkxMesz3KOGEmwmvyKQfLfrRSUXLFzfVHZA and required very few adjustments out of the box. The wheels did not require any truing/adjustments. The frame had some small scratches, but nothing major.I did replace the seat though - the seat it came with was very uncomfortable. The tires need to be re-inflated every 4-5 days, but this appears to be quite common for the narrow 700x25 tires.Overall, in my opinion, this bike looks and rides like a much more expensive bike.

[@hoggykey]

Manon, an external keyboard and mouse would make all the difference to your laptop stand.

[@PatrickvonMassow]

Do these bikes have power meters? Can you give us the numbers, please?

[@ltrtg13]

If Alex had have asked me if I got my breath back after this race. My answer would be. "No, I'm waiting for my breath to come to me. Haven't I been tortured enough with this race, now you want me to chase down and catch my breath?"

[@triscuitbiscuit]

Didn't realize you guys would be racing the love child of Ed Sheeran and Damian Lewis.

[@mindy_cycling]

Wow, the cycle world is really cool. How much effort does it take to become like a cyclist? I'm respectful👩🙋‍♀️👍

[@jamesplegg]

Hmmm. Not so sure about this one. Beginner, not really a beginner, different bikes, and as someone else said, no time to talk about where the differences came from and what really made Ed Clancy faster. Will let you off this once, as GCN is allround amazing!

[@lexington476]

Cool video. What is the length and maximum embankment angle on that track?

[@toekneewood]

Great fun. It would have been better if you all did it at the same time.

[@alexmartins9971]

Fast and good product

[@andyclark8991]

Where’s the boss Manon. Because that’s Manon (nickname) the boss.

[@petinka721]

The beginner only 7 sec behind Alex is not mush. I see an upcoming GCN challenge here!

[@gabrielyuanarnoldr.s2027]

Im curious what frame size did alex and ed clancy use cos im new into track cycling and we have the same height and weight so im wondering so i can buy my own with the correct sizing

[@wordpress4373]

Can you make a test with a light rider (60kg), then add him 20kg in weight west to make him 80kg and then another 20 to make him 100kg. I want to see how much slower is a heavier rider on some flat and hilly routes.

[@chanito_nyc]

Before watching the video “Jeez I wonder who would win”

[@soulboken4670]

Lol wtf they gave an ex-olympian a water bottle as payment hahahaha

[@adnartmadmartm8718]

Yes, that's the joke.

[@dl4209]

this vid was fun! Answers the questions most of us have while we are riding

[@dsonyay]

Shoulda said the water bottle will be mailed out but a small shipping and handling fee must be paid.

[@gislasson]

in my country its even impossible to buy a bike to start

[@MookyMc]

Was Freddy too busy signing autographs?

[@Tinu-1987]

This video is definitely missing some comparisons. The videos above each other or some illustration.

[@basv8456]

Where's freddie?

[@Sam-sd1ew]

What happened to Freddie?! Freddie should be the default beginner!

[@IraklyShanidze00X]

The video feels unfinished... What would have been really cool is to talk about things besides the brute force that made the Olympic champ 1.5 times faster than the newbie. I am referring to the technique, not the skinsuit.

[@fcv1967]

What technique? You just keep pedaling and really hard!

[@timhepworth7867]

Ed joining GCN 🤔

[@Red-ju4mi]

I want to see amateur champion cat 1 racer vs olympic champion

[@RhoenGonzales]

Where's Freddie??? 😂

[@thomasjanssen3643]

Freddie isn't a beginner anymore.

[@anitadoczy2512]

WHOEVER THAT'S READING THIS,I PRAY THAT ONE DAY YOU WILL REACH YOUR DREAMS ALWAYS KNOW THAT THE SECRET OF YOUR FUTURE IS HIDDEN IN YOUR DAILY ROUTINE. SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DO DAILY WHAT THE UNSUCCESSFUL DO ONLY ON OCCASIONALLY. That's why the rich invest and the poor don't.

[@petertony3949]

to be successful in life there must be some vitals game to play by following the link of the rich ones as your mentor and always try to be good with them as your metor so that you can get to the successful point you are aiming.

[@makihanah2671]

that's the fact ma.

[@jeffreymicheal4263]

successfully people don't become that way Over-night. What most people see at a glance-wealth, a great career, purpose-is the result of hard work and hustle over time.

[@soniadavid9691]

Most times having knowledge or insight a particular activity can as well be a best exercise.

[@renejames8502]

I can boldly say that forex is one of the profitable money exchange services that elevates investors and their financial status

[@ITsupportian]

Why does nobody told him to ride on the black line

[@kylehagertybanana]

Ed is cool

[@oadka]

Gcn should've used Manon. She is an actual track cyclist.

[@talhadar7017]

It should have been amateur vs pro vs olympic gold medalist.

[@heppatytot2384]

Good😁🏇

[@emilianolemus597]

Hey I am a 13 year old that cycles 55 miles in 3 hours and a half. I go up big hills and rude average 16 mph. And go up to 34 mph.

[@jeangeurts1123]

What the weight of the Bike ?

[@MrJoshsupra]

For next april fool's, you guys should team up with Donut media and pretend you'll switch the channel from bikes to cars and them, vise versa and then do a whole video on a car topic

[@bubblesezblonde]

you gave an Olympic Champ a water bottle???? Tha's pretty cheeky even for the brits....good thing your brother in law took the banks right?

[@alexparsons-moore9068]

Not sure why you'd let the amateur start first without briefing them. Then you let the second best rider use a power meter, followed by a pro rider using carbon wheels.

[@shepshape2585]

This is bound to be one of their most popular videos, what with all the track racers out there.

[@the1gofer]

The last time the “beginner” had an ftp of 300+ … let’s see how this goes.

[@Dishantyadav06]

Hi i like your videos . can you make a video on how to get a sponsorship for a cyclist