This is how much faster bike racing was in 2026... except when it wasn't

Looking at average speed data from the three Grand Tours, and five Monuments, 2026 trended faster than 2025 in almost every race. Tadej Pogačar topped his own speed from 2025 in the Tour de France, with the race averaging ~43.33 km/h compared to 2025's ~42.85.

It was the Vuelta that had the biggest difference in the grand tours, with Enric Mas' race averaging 1.06 times faster than Jonas Vingegaard's in 2025. The Giro and the Tour increased by the same amount, both races were 1.01 times faster than their 2025 editions.

However, the trend was not universal, with some 2026 Monuments averaging slower in 2026, than 2025. Only two of the five hallowed races averaged faster, with the biggest increase coming at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where Pogačar broke his own record to set the fastest average speed ever at the race.

Pogačar's absence may have been felt at Il Lombardia, but the average speed hardly reflects it. Whilst the autumn monument did average slower in 2026, the difference was negligible. In 2025, the average speed at the race of the falling leaves was ~41.81 km/h, and in 2026 it was 41.03.

Wout van Aert's triumphant Paris-Roubaix was one of the two monuments which trended faster, the Belgian's race was at an average speed of ~48.91 km/h. A year earlier, Mathieu van der Poel won the race in an average speed of 46.92.

Milano-Sanremo and Tour of Flanders were slower than in 2025, but the difference was again negligible. Both races went around 0.99 times slower, with the differences in average speed being a matter of tenths.

So, whilst five out of eight of the major races averaged faster, across the board no difference was huge. Even the races with the biggest increases in speed were barley more than 1 times faster than 2025.

However, looking at data from 1995, the differences are staggering. In 1995, the Spanish great Miguel Induráin won his fifth and final Tour de France- one of the most dominant cyclists of a generation. He did so in a race that averaged just over 39 km/h. Pogačar won his fifth title in 2026, in a race that went nearly 1.2 times quicker.

The slowest race of the bunch in 1995 was the Giro, won by Swiss rider Tony Rominger, with an average speed of just over 38 km/h. Vingegaard was just 1.08 times quicker in 2026, riding on average just over 41.5 km/h.

There is one race in 1995 that averaged faster than the races in both 2025, and 2026. Given the improvements made in aerodynamics, bike weight ratios, fuelling, training, and almost everything that goes into racing, it seems surprising. However, Gianni Faresin's 1995 victory was the fastest edition of Lombardy ever raced, with an average speed of ~43.32 km/h.

Faresin never had any doping allegations levelled at him, and the record is recognised as official.

However, some things remain true to form, as winner Paul Seixas did break some speed records in the race of the falling leaves. The young Frenchman set the record up the Civiglio climb in 11:54 during the 2026 edition.

If these trends are to be taken to be exponential, the Tour de France 2056 will average close to 48 km/h. Whilst this is mathematically ridiculous, it asks the question: how much faster will the bunch get?

The 2027 Tour de France features a lot of flat time trial kilometres, and not much high alpine terrain. Almost certainly, this will contribute to a faster overall average time, but just how much faster could it be? In a world of marginal gains, the increases [and decreases] each year are creeping, and small. But there's no way to know for certain how far these marginal gains will take average speeds in the future.