Road bike versus MTB, BMX and track cycling - the ultimate drag race battle

Who is fastest? A BMXer, a mountain biker, a track cyclist or a road cyclist? To find out, Manon Lloyd has got together some of the best athletes in the world from each discipline.

With each rider on the bike they're most accustomed to, the riders will do five races: 25m, 50m, 200m, 500m and a kilometre.

Let's find out a bit more about the riders and their areas of expertise.

• Read more: Gravel or mountain bike - what's the best bike for an adventure?

Betsy Bax - BMX

Betsy Bax is a two-time world champion and a six-time national champion and will be putting her explosive power and leg speed to the test.

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Betsy Bax is a team GB BMX racer who has six national titles to her name

She is riding a single-speed BMX race bike with 20-inch wheels and a saddle low enough to stay out of the way when clearing jumps on a BMX track - although there are no jumps here!

Rhian Edmunds - Track

Rhian Edmunds is most at home on the boards of a velodrome. As a track sprinter, she trains to produce a lot of power for short periods, around 20 seconds. She is both a British and European champion in track sprinting and has claimed a Commonwealth Games medal during her career.

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Rhian Edmunds is a track sprint specialist who has claimed a Commonwealth Games medal

The track bike is fixed gear, and it's a big one, so getting going quickly from a standing start could prove tricky.

Josie Nelson - Road

Josie Nelson is a British National Champion on the road and has competed in the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift. She will also be joining the Women’s WorldTour outfit DSM for 2024.

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Josie Nelson will be take a step up to the women's WorldTour in 2024 with team DSM

She is riding a road bike with 24 gears, drop handlebars, and road tyres.

Tracey Moseley - MTB

Moseley is one of the all-time greats in the world of mountain biking. There isn’t much that she hasn't won, and her impressive palmares includes 16 Downhill World Cup wins and 15 Enduro World Series wins.

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Tracey Moseley is a legend in the mountain bike world with 16 downhill World Cup wins

Her bike of choice is a full-suspension cross-country mountain bike with 12 gears. She might be able to lock out the suspension, but those chunky tyres are going to do her no favours rolling on the smooth tarmac.

The race format

The five races increase in distance with the first just 25 metres in length. This will test both the bike and the rider's ability to launch off the line from a standing start. After this the distances grows to 50 metres, 200 metres, 500 metres and finish with a full kilometre.

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The race format started with a 25 metre race with each subsequent one growing in length with the final race a one kilometre dash

In each of these races, the riders are awarded points for their finishing position with the winner taking four points and the rider in last place claiming just one.

At the end of all five events, the results will be tallied up to conclude who can claim the top step of the podium.

Make sure to check out the video to see who claims the ultimate victory in the battle of the disciplines.

Manon Lloyd

GCN Tech Presenter

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