100 Pros Vs 5000 Amateurs | Who Will Win In NYC?

Can 100 pros hold off 5000 amateur cyclists? Join us at Gran Fondo New York, where we put Alex on the pro Jamison Racing team, and Ollie, riding in the GFNY amateur peloton, to the test! Is there really such a big difference between amateur and pro cyclists?

In collaboration with @GFNYWorld and @colnagoTV
👉 https://gfny.com/
👉 https://www.colnago.com/

Who will win in Gran Fondo New York? 0:00
What is GFNY? 0:31
Our bikes: The Colnago V4RS & The C68 0:57
The start line! 4:30 a.m. 1:46
GO TIME! 2:56
Why aren’t we in our usual kit? 3:32
First climb: The Alpine 4:32
Being a pro for the day: Jamison Racing Team 5:28
Checking in with Ollie 6:39
Alex’s experience with the pros 8:03
The aftermath 10:41
Could 100 pros REALLY hold off 5000 amateurs? 11:01

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What do you think of Ollie and Alex’s efforts? 🔥 Would you like to take part in an event like this one day? And how do you like Alex and Ollie’s bikes? 😍

Let us know in the comments below! 💬

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can 5,000 amotor cyclists beat 100 Pros we’re going to find out because we’re in New York for Grand Fondo New York a 135 km race that starts on the George Washington Bridge over there here in the city and there’s a UCI Pro Race that I’m in followed just 15 minutes later by a gigantic pelaton of amateur that I will be in and I think that we can go quicker than the pros on this course and potentially catch them so let’s find out gfny is actually a series of grand fondos all over the world which culminates in this the New York finale now you can enter just for fun or if you want to get in the front start pen you can qualify by finishing in the top percentage of one of the qualifier events but for the first time this year there’s also a UCI Pro Race now you may have noticed we’ve got some rather bling kagos here and kago have actually helped make this video possible and we’ve gone to town on setting our bikes up so if you want to see how we’ve tricked our bikes out well it’s a separate video over on gcn Tech but before you look at that I think we can all agree my V4 RS is clearly the better of the two bikes whatever my c68 look at that it’s incredible let us know in the comments which you’d rather have c68 V4 RS as mentioned the 135 km route starts on the iconic George Washington Bridge and then Loops up north out of the city the parkour is Lumpy with several short climbs littered throughout amounting to over 2,000 M of elevation kind of like an ardan’s classic which is going to be good now just to make this clearer for the amateur to beat the pros we need just one Amer to post a quicker time on this course than the pro peleton now with the huge drafting benefit of the ginormous amateur peleton this is very possible it’s 4:30 a.m. we’re riding through the streets of New York and it’s like what an experience to have no cars anywhere but also slightly terrifying knowing what lies ahead nervous I’m feeling a little bit nervous too I’m honest but I think in the amate race here I think we’ve got a really good chance of catching the pros or at least doing a faster time than them because at the sharp end there’s some really fast people here the level’s really high I don’t know if you remember Luca verito from the rift Academy won it a couple of years ago he actually won this event before there was a pro race um so that tells you everything you need to know but it’s not just for really fast people don’t be intimidated this event is for all abilities and just finishing it is a massive achievement [Applause] and we are ready to ride here 4 3 2 1 [Music] [Music] now you may have noticed olle and I are not in our usual gcn kit and that’s for good reason for olle it’s because all participants must wear the official gfny jersey but for me it’s because I’m representing us elite team jamson Race it but more on that in just a minute over here in the Pro Race these guys don’t mess about we have pro teams like corek and bani who traveled all the way over from Italy there’s even the development teams for alpas inarik and Lotto Des and many of these guys will eventually go on to race things like the tour to France but if this race is raced tactically by the big teams there is a chance that some of the top amateur Riders could catch us or at the very least finish with a faster average speed while Alex was trying not to get dropped in the Pro Race I was trying not to get dropped in the amateur race just 15 km in we were hitting the first categorized climb Alpine which at just 1.6 km was already creating a selection of just 40 Riders the pace was [Applause] rapid we’re about 30k in about 20K in there was a crash I was up near the front but it held me up until I’ve lost contact with the front Bunch trying to chase on now [Music] following the crash my efforts to chase back to the lead group had been in vain I was told they were now 10 minutes up the road but this wasn’t a total disaster because I didn’t have to go faster than the pros we just needed one amateur to go faster than the pros now that we’re well into the race and the pace has started to settle down I want to talk about one of the real highlights for me and that is the opportunity to quite literally be a pro for the day having joined the Jameson racing lineup this is a US based team here in New York and they were kind enough to allow me to join their starting lineup for the day which involved many many emails forms and insurance documents to keep the UCI and US fund police happy and also ensure I was actually able to race with the real pros Great Britain it was really special for me to be able B to return to the sort of pro races that I used to do 5 years ago and the day before the race we had the official team presentation and our team meeting to discuss the key sections of the route and make a plan for how we would approach the race would you rather prioritize like having something represented within the break rather than trying to have like an additional body to try and position you for the climbs one of the most important parts being the two major climbs located just over the halfway marker [Music] after that crash been chasing hard I mean the route is so hilly but I’m worried never going to see the front of the race ever again now we’re over 40K an hour it’s really quick and hilly [Music] in terms of fueling I’m doing what Precision holders which is trying do mostly gels two bottles in eras like this for me cuz I don’t sweat much and 160 or 120 g of carbs an hour probably more 120 for [Music] me paie has got quite slow in the B actually so uh I’m hoping we can pick it up a bit might have to [Music] attack well that attack wasn’t the best idea I’ve had uh as some 5 minutes later I was caught and right back where I started while olle was busy attacking his group and trying to push the pace higher I was doing the complete opposite and hanging on for dear life I’d survived the first half of the race relatively well but up the biggest climb of the race the pro level Pace had started to take its toll on me and I just could not climb as fast as the top guys so I found myself distance from the pelaton and drifting back through the car Convoy and it was here that things all started to go wrong and I was dropped but getting dropped in the Pro race is very different to what most people will imagine because it’s not due to exhaustion or the high average speed or even the fact that we’d average 280 Watts it’s because of the incredible Pace over short efforts in the first 1 hour 30 of the race I’d spent over 13 minutes at V2 Max and accumulated over 5 minutes worth of racing above 540 wats over in the amate race I’d got to the same point on the course with an average power of 245 wats an average speed of 36 km an hour some 15 minutes slower than the pros but the way in which the amate race played out was very different to the pros I spent over 20 minutes at V2 Max more than Alex had but I had considerably less time at really high power numbers my entire race accumulated only 3 minutes spent over 480 Watts and while Alex’s race day was effectively over it was still game on for me and the amateurs could we make any inroads into the pros or at very least catch and pass Alex game on I’m a gfny Grand Prix finisher oh my god I’ve made it Ollie hasn’t finished yet so I did beat OE but that wasn’t the main goal the main goal was to survive the Pro Race we’re just doing the last little running to the Finish now and then that final climb up to the line few little kickers to get over there’s no sign of O I’m starting to get a bit concerned hopefully he’s okay bit worried he’s actually doing all right hopefully he hasn’t crashed around a mechanical or a puncture I going have to keep an eye out come on Ollie stay safe so it was now clear that it wouldn’t be me troubling the pros either but seeing as the amate race started some 15 minutes later than the pros we still had a chance with the front Riders an undisclosed number of minutes after the first place amateur Rider I crossed the line exhausted with very sore legs I found Ollie I can’t believe I was worried about him look at this look at what he’s up to yeah I’m just getting a getting a massage from my man jovon here it’s sorting me out but I got the tight IT ban okay so O’s finally finished having his massage I now got a belly full of pasta so it feels like an appropriate time to run through our races because we haven’t actually sat down and spoken to each other yet have we no so we don’t know what happened but do you have a good time I did have a good time thanks I’m absolutely exhausted now I feel slightly fresh I now I’ve had so to eat but I’m batter that’s a tough course it’s like it’s unrelenting up and down Hills all day yeah super tough but um I think I’m well firstly I’m Keen to hear how you got on but also we need to answer the question we posed at the start this video which was can 100 Pros hold off 5,000 amateurs I think you’ve got the times and yes and all we need just to caveat this is for one amateur to do a faster time than the pros and then the Amur win okay right so the fastest amateur yeah was 3 hours 30 minutes okay and I was about 50th I think yeah and I did 3 hours 47 minutes good okay fair play I on the pro side of things I’m feeling very smug because I can tell you the fastest person in the Pro Race was 3 hours and 4 minutes wow that is way quicker that is absolutely rapid but but what did you do my smug feeling is about to go quite quickly because I did 3 hours 36 minutes and I got dropped with 55k to go so the fastest Amer was faster than Alex anytime I went uphill I had to do 500 watts and there’s only so many times I can do that yeah um that’s my Max Sprint yeah it was a mega experience to be able to see like start on the bridge with like the New York skyline in the background and then to have like the the light coming up in terms of well in terms of my experience because let’s be clear here I I retired from Pro Racing just over four years ago so to say it was like a baptism of fire would be a bit of an understatement but I feel like I feel like I did myself proud right I achieved I think I achieved what I wanted to achieve like coming into this we you’re last no well then that’s amazing that is amazing that is amazing but coming into this I I feel like I had my priorities slightly wrong because my most important thing was to stay safe whereas I feel like true Racers are going at it with one main goal and that is to win where I feel like that highlights you know partly the mindset of someone that’s retired from racing I got involved with the racing I stayed near the front of the bunch I sort of I I was part of the Pro Race which is really cool but then by the halfway marker I up some of these climbs with like 60k to go especially I can’t remember the name of the climb now where you got the one big climb a descent and one big climb again I think that really Gate Road and then cheese coat that absolutely decim back are back that decimated the pellaton and all of a sudden there was like one massive group that just fell off the back of the pro race and then at that point everyone’s kind of in the same mindset where it’s like well we just cruise to the Finish because so I think this is something that most people won’t particularly be aware of because it’s not something you see in Pro Racing on the television because the television do focus on it but it it’s very different to an amateur Mass participation event because once the pro Racers have been dropped and aren’t featuring in a part of the race it’s really like everyone just switches off and goes cool let’s just get home now and that was the that was kind of how it was for group I was in but when you’re in like a mass partici mass participation event and you racing with amateurs if you get dropped you join another group and you carry on racing and it’s your race carries on but nonetheless yeah I mean look at us we’re s in the sunlight nowy good it New York is literally a ston throw away over the over the bridge and over the river if you’ve got a good good throw on you um but yeah I think well we should say a big thanks to gfny for having us a big thanks to co Nago for supplying us with two absolutely Lo looking bikes and what an amazing opportunity this is to showcase the difference between amate and Pros because I can’t think of another event where the race happens with the exact same weather conditions just 15 minutes behind the other race and it really does highlight the difference in speed and how good guys like Alex are I think what we should do is um well everyone should comment Down Below on what you think of our our efforts in the race but also maybe if there’s enough people with an interest in it we could do a deep dive Tech video into some of the power analysis and right that’s it from us we’re absolutely exhausted and um well to be honest we want to go experience the atmosphere over our shoulder um thanks very much see you later love you bye