F1's Valterri Bottas gravel racer

Butch · #1 08-16-2021, 07:32 PM

Over the weekend we had the SBTGVRL race here in Steamboat. 3000 registered riders for 4 different races. Valterri came to support his girlfriend doing the 144 long race as her intro to the gravel race world and he came to do the 64 mile race. A 19.5 mph average speed gave him 5th place overall (second in his age group category).

Okay he is half about my age but I know a lot of strong riders in town and that is down right respectable, if not just fast. All I know is that all who interacted with him praised his awesome demeanor and great spirit.

As an aside 3 weeks ago I went down on the same course (a place I have ridden for years - plain oh s#@! move that left me with my worst crash in over 40 years over riding like a semi-idiot - surgery 2 weeks ago on the shoulder. In his profession possibly a risk??

The race was fun to watch the finish - 3 up sprint with Howes taking the win in the 144 and Lauren De Cresecenzo crushing the women's field by 10 minutes.

Chapeau Bottas et al

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSo9nsSrDoQ/
https://my.raceresult.com/177631/

JSL · #2 08-17-2021, 01:44 AM

Those guys do loads of cardio and strength training, but that's still impressive. Kudos to him and the others out there.

I'm surprised too that his contract doesn't prevent him from competing. I recall Hamilton only being able to ski when he was breifly between contracts with Mercedes last year.

ckipp88 · #3 08-17-2021, 08:54 AM

If I'm not mistaken racing drivers often train on road bikes. Sometimes they will ride the circuits before races to preview the track conditions and do recon as well, so not surprised that he rips. 19 mi/hr on gravel at elevation is very impressive.

carpediemracing · #4 08-17-2021, 10:13 AM

Over 3 hours and many minutes ahead of the next Masters racer. And minutes behind the winner. That's got to be tough. I don't know anything about the race but I wonder if there was a group that blew apart in the last 30-40 minutes or was it a slugfest for multiple hours? Mentally that would be extremely taxing.

No other current F1 drivers that are "serious" but Mark Webber, Jenson Button, and Alain Prost are proficient cyclists as well.

Webber crashed his mountain bike prior to the start of the F1 season one year, hurting himself. I think though that there are limits to what a team can do to limit exposure because many/most things have inherent risks. Cycling obviously has good aerobic benefits. I'm guessing that we won't see Bottas line up for a crit, but a gravel race, once the start bunch starts to break up, isn't quite as dicey.

I remember seeing Hamilton going through the same gun training facility as Keanu Reeves used. Obviously a risk of injury, but it was relatively well controlled.

TimD · #5 08-17-2021, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ckipp88

If I'm not mistaken racing drivers often train on road bikes. Sometimes they will ride the circuits before races to preview the track conditions and do recon as well, so not surprised that he rips. 19 mi/hr on gravel at elevation is very impressive.

EDIT: In 2012 Alonso finished a 21 K TT in 29 minutes, e.g, > 26 MPH. Sorry for the misinformation, I was only able to find this result.

uno-speedo · #6 08-17-2021, 12:43 PM

That is way fast.

George Russell cycles too, and Lando Norris's dad, Adam Norris is CEO of Pure Electric, an e-bike chain of shops.

oliver1850 · #7 08-17-2021, 03:24 PM

Pretty impressive result, I'd say. Certainly somewhat of a risk accident-wise. IndyCar driver Rinus VeeKay went over the bars of his road bike earlier this summer and broke his clavicle. He missed the Road America round as a result. He was well up in the points prior to that but hasn't had a good result since and has fallen to 10th.

jimoots · #8 08-18-2021, 12:01 AM

His partner is Tiffany Cromwell - pro rider for many years, currently on the Canyon SRAM WT team.

He raced the club crits when down for TDU in 2020 (I think?) in B grade and hung for a while but got shelled.

At the time I didn't think much of him as a cyclist but in an article around this gravel race, he noted that race was his first, so B grade was definitely a baptism of fire.

soulspinner · #9 08-18-2021, 06:04 AM

Chapeau. Lewis wants him back but Russell is being tipped as next years Merc replacement.

buckfifty · #10 08-18-2021, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ckipp88

If I'm not mistaken racing drivers often train on road bikes. Sometimes they will ride the circuits before races to preview the track conditions and do recon as well, so not surprised that he rips. 19 mi/hr on gravel at elevation is very impressive.

Some Motogp riders also preride the circuits. Aleix Espargaró, Marc Marquez, and Cal Crutchlow are known to train on bikes when not riding a motorcycle