The impressive stats of pro cyclists in 2023: GCN Racing News Show

Just before our focus turns completely to the 2024 season, there's still time to take a quick look back at some of the very impressive stats from the pro peloton during 2023.

With the help of Velofacts annual Strava analysis on X Dan Lloyd reveals just how hard pro cyclists actually train, how their training methods stack up against one another and what were the most difficult races of the year.

One mightily impressive revelation is Sepp Kuss’ (Visma-Lease a Bike) extraordinary climbing stats. He climbs a lot. In fact, he climbs the most of any professional rider on Strava.

While it might not be that surprising that Kuss tops the list given the American’s climbing pedigree, it is notable to see just how much he climbs. All things considered, Kuss logged an astounding 652,853 metres of elevation gain. That is 15,000 metres clear of Magnus Kulset, who is next on the list, and a total equivalent to 74 times up Mount Everest!

Beyond the stats, Dan also reviews the last few weeks of racing which included, for the first time since October 2023, road racing in the form of the Australian National Championships. In the men’s road race it was domination for Jayco AlUla as new recruit Luke Plapp took his third straight title ahead of two of his teammates on the podium, while Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) took the women’s title.

In Europe, the cyclo-cross season continues with Mathieu van der Poel winning his 400th career cyclo-cross race and his tenth in a row on Sunday at the Zonhoven World Cup. On the women’s side, Puck Pieterse returned to top form and took two victories over the Christmas period, breaking the winning streak that Fem van Empel had maintained since the beginning of the season.

Watch this week’s show to hear all this and more as the 2024 road season grows ever closer. Also, be sure to let us know in the comments if you or someone you know has come close to Sepp Kuss’ climbing totals!

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