Last year, GCN did a video with five roadies against one time-trialist. Our cycling club went further and did our own version of the challenge. Finnish national time trial champion goes alone against an amateur team of eight riders on a 48 km course.
The TT champ “MadMatt” does most of his winter training in TrainerRoad. Seems to work well for a 45-year-old family man.
Check out the video [Finnish with English subtitles]:
OTC did video not GCN. Either way, I enjoyed that.
Good point! I edited the original post clearer now.
Would a pro team of 8 or 9 riders beat a pro TT rider? What do you think? I would still bet on the TT bike
I really enjoyed that. Very well put together.
Thanks for sharing
I wasn’t riding there, but I’m sure the riders did their best by the guidance of the captain. Most were pretty sure that the TT bike would win. In his last year’s championship fitness, the TT champ would have crushed the team with a big margin.
Surely that one guy’s open vest wasn’t really optimal 
Yeah, a very good point. Some aero optimization would probably have turned this the other way around. Most of the guys rode from home to the start, some more than 30km and in case there was a puncture or something, it would have been a long taxi ride home or at least waiting for the camera crew after the finished ride. Some amateur club limitations here 
If the sub7/8 challenge is any indication… a team will beat the best TT/Triathlon rider any day.
Just look at how much faster the ride was when it was a team effort!
Skipper hit almost 55kpm (~34mph) for 112 miles!
But wasn’t the sub7/8 done with very aero TT/triathlon gear on all riders? The aero difference is quite big when you change to typical road race gear.
@redlude97 I think a top level TT rider like Ganna could go clearly above 50 km/h or 31 mph on that fairly flat course. For a road team with road gear, it would be very challenging to hold that for an hour. However, it would be very interesting to see.
Apples to oranges. Of course 8 guys on TT bikes will go faster than 1 guy on a TT bike.
8 guys on road bikes v 1 guy on TT bike is altogether different and essentially comes down to how aero optimised the roadies are
Ah… I did t see the bike leg…
I think 10 guys on a TT bikes would beat anyone, but 10 guys on road bikes would come in second… The advantages of pack ride is probably similar to a great aero position if the pack know what it is doing that is.
Apart from velo mobiles and stream liners which would wipe the floor with them 
Is there a TL:DW recap? Did they beat the solo TT rider or not? 
Check the video from 23:00 to see the end result. I don’t want to spoil it in case people want to watch it full.