Si Richardson versus the world’s strongest cyclist – who is fastest?

The more muscle you have, the more power you can put down, right? But how does that actually translate when it comes to an out-and-out race on the track? This is what Si Richardson wants to find out. Not afraid to head into battle on a bike, he’s taken to the velodrome to take on the might of ‘Giant’ from the UK TV series Gladiators.

Giant is, well, a giant. He’s 6ft 5in and weighs a whopping 136kg. He can squat 220kg, which is about as heavy as a 55-gallon drum of oil, a big male grizzly bear or a grand piano. He can bench press 200kg, or about three times the weight of our Si. He’s capable of putting out some pretty hefty power numbers.

What he doesn’t have though, is all the wily cycling experience of Si. Plus Si did a couple of chin-ups around Christmas time so he’s not mucking around here either.

So the question is, when they’re head-to-head on the track, who will come out on top? This is the purest form of cycle racing. There are no hills, there’s no wind, no street obstacles to contend with and no brakes. There’s nothing to stand in the way of a pure out-and-out power battle.

The format is pretty simple.

For the first challenge, both riders are to complete a lap of the track from a standing start. It’s the ultimate sprint test over 250m. After a pretty hotly contested game of rock, paper, scissors it’s determined that Giant will go first. He’ll set the pace that Si has to beat on his turn.

Race 2 – Head-to-head sprint

From a standing start the riders will cover two laps. This is one of the most popular events in track cycling. A seasoned pro reaches over 2000 watts here and can hit speeds of over 80kph. This could be interesting but who will win?

Race 3 – Five lap scratch race

This is normally contested by 30 or so riders, but for this challenge it’s just the two of them in a race to the line. It’s the longest of our races so we’ll see how endurance fits into the equation. Will one of them go for it straight from the gun?

That’s the challenge. Contender ready? Gladiator ready? Watch the video to see who comes out on top!

For more of GCN’s challenge articles and video head to our dedicated section on the GCN website.