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Must Watch: Chris Froome Becomes the First Man To Bike the Channel Tunnel

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Chris Froome Englsih Channel

100 meters under the sea, Chris Froome recently became the first man to blast the 33.46 mi (53.85 km) from England to France through the Channel Tunnel. The service tunnel used is one of the most high security sites in the UK and France, and it took six months for Jaguar and Team Sky to organize the video shoot.

Drop past the break for the awesome footage.


A previous Tour de France Winner, and hopeful for this year, he completed the ride in 55 minutes, reaching speeds of up to ~40mph (65 km/h). For comparison, the Eurostar takes roughly 35 minutes to travel the tunnel and hits 100mph, while commercial ferry trips last ~90min.

Froome Team Sky English Channel

About the experience, Froome said:

“Cycling under the sea was an incredible experience. Opportunities to become the first person in the world to achieve these kind of feats are extremely rare nowadays, especially as a pro-cyclist.”

Jaguar Team Sky The Channel

Just in case you’re listening Jaguar, thanks for the great advertising campaign, and could you please bring the XF Wagon to the US (in a manual, or maybe a diesel?).

 

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25 Comments
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Xris
Xris
9 years ago

33.46mi = 53.85kg??

I would have thought it’s 1mile : 2.22 floz. Check those conversions!

James S
James S
9 years ago

Yawn. What’s so exciting about riding through a tunnel? Sure, it’s a very long tunnel, but anyone could do it if they were given access to it. Wake me up when Danny Macaskill has a new video.

Gary
Gary
9 years ago

I second the Jag wagon request!

mtbvideos r4themostpartbetter
mtbvideos r4themostpartbetter
9 years ago

its kinda cool l guess. Mtb clips are for the most part better.

Charles
Charles
9 years ago

Does the picture of the Jaguar wagon have anything to do with this story? It has road (not TT) bikes on the roof.

Ventruck
Ventruck
9 years ago

Cool vid. I don’t really like Froome but at least he was on a TT bike so we don’t see that silly elbows riding style of his

wheelz
wheelz
9 years ago

@James S: I think the point is that he’s the first (and perhaps last) person to be given access. Obviously it’s just supposed to be a cool video, not some sort of great athletic achievement. Perhaps your’re overthinking this one.

Rob
Rob
9 years ago

And given permission you or I could have been the first. Okay, the Jag wagon is cool (since of course wagons/vans mean no taking wheels off bikes to transport and not need to have them outside in the elements prone to the weather and theft).r

Pacific
Pacific
9 years ago

I really do like the way they cheezed up him riding the tunnel, but this is a Jaguar commercial.
And he’s right, it should be a leg of some tour sometime. Just shoot a 20 mile an hour tailwind through there and see what happens.

Tyson
Tyson
9 years ago

I would bet a hundred pounds that Wiggins could ride it faster than Froome. Sky requested that no other cyclist gains access, with Chris being the record holder for eternity. We all know that are great champions & Froome will win the Tour again this year, but let the racers, RACE!

Gunnstein
Gunnstein
9 years ago

@Xris
33.46mi = 53.85kg? No no no. It’s not a conversion. The service tunnel is built with the latest in carbon megatube technology and, amazingly, weighs only 53.85kg.

John B
John B
9 years ago

Kg is kilograms, km is kilometers. Weight verses distance.

notapro
notapro
9 years ago

Boring as hell. Could’ve let macaskill or akrigg manual or wheelie whole thing

Mike
Mike
9 years ago

Road biking is as much interesting to watch as paint drying…

I understand idea of road biking, concentration, performance and fitness but is simply boring as fuck… but hey… people like catching fishes and stuff so I guess something for somebody… not for me…

I prefer action and skill…

NotAFroomeFan
NotAFroomeFan
9 years ago

Just when you think Froome couldn’t get any more lame he goes and does something like this. Fist pump for lame videos.

Hourman
Hourman
9 years ago

I think we’ve missed the biggest accomplishment…Froome was on pace to obliterate the hour record!

If he actually went 53.85 km in less than 56 minutes, he was riding above 58km/hr. on a UCI legal TT bike. Since the current record is 55.291 (& only 56+ with a banned funny-bike), curious why they didn’t mention this fact.

Dr. Sartorious
Dr. Sartorious
9 years ago

This is a good anti-road riding video. It basically sums up what mountain bikers have known all along: Road riding is the same scenery over and over and over and over again, on non-native surfaces.

Forty miles in this tunnel is like 40 miles on any boring-ass road, USA. Not only that, you might get taken out by Susie, when she’s texting her boyfriend about the OneDirection show Friday night.

£ foolish
£ foolish
9 years ago

Let me get this…

On a bicycle site whenever a >$10,000 bicycle is features all hell reins down condemning them as “dentist” bikes yet..

There seems great excitement about a frivolous ego compensating $60,000+ car ..odd

sean fissel
sean fissel
9 years ago

“but… he’s just riding in straight line. and its flat.”
“add some dubstep, people will eat that sh*t up.”
“…”

Darren
Darren
9 years ago

That should of been the stage to France the first TT through the tunnel! Only bikes and Motos for support would be cool

Jim
Jim
9 years ago

Am I the only one to notice that Froome averaged 36.5 mph? That’s freakin’ fast, esp. given that it was only for a publicity stunt. Near hour record territory. Yes, Jag, bring those wagons to the States!

uphilldrop
uphilldrop
9 years ago

I thought that was pretty neat. I agree that some dubstep would have made it much better.

bentley
bentley
9 years ago

Not sure any kind of hour record speed recognition counts for this ride considering tunnel gradients. I’m sure i could search out what they are but that ride was most likely downhill for half of it and yes i am aware there’s an uphill half on the way out but the first half of the ride could have been a cruise with all the effort put in on the way out

Rivers
Rivers
9 years ago

Put that man on the Velo!

Will T Smith
Will T Smith
9 years ago

This would be an interesting portion of a Time Trial stage. Of course no aerial footage or fans on the side of the road. But they could make up with that with video boards. Any mechanical assistance would have to be from a motorbike. Or m’gosh have them change their own tires 😉

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