Pro cycling's biggest numbers on Strava | Who rode most KMs, hours in 2021? | Sticky Bottle

*Richie Porte wins Critérium du Dauphiné last June; the Australian clear a big miles man and keen on posting all, or most, of it on Strava*

Richie Porte has come out on top as the pro rider who posted most kilometres of racing and training on Strava last year. The Tasmanian, riding for Ineos Grenadiers again this year, clocked up 37,643.3km during 2021 on the rides he posted on the app.

He recorded 441 riders, totaling just over 1,200 hours with over 662,000 metres of elevation gain. Porte won Critérium du Dauphiné back in June before helping team mate Richard Carapaz to 3rd overall in the Tour de France.

While he topped the list for the most kilometres ridden and posted on Strava through 2021, fellow Australian Lachlan Morton spent more hours in the saddle than anyone else.

Morton rode for EF Education Nippo this year and took on a number of alternative cycling challenges, including endurance events and riding his one-man so-call 'alt Tour', during which he rode the course of the Tour de France unaided.

Morton spent 1,400 hours in the saddle, that were posted on Strava, this year; riding 29,715.7km with 498,189m of elevation gain during 349 rides in the data compiled by VeloFacts.

*Annemiek van Vleuten winning the Tour of Norway this year; the Dutch rider clearly a fan of big miles and publishing as much of her information as possible*

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Interestingly, Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) topped the women's list for kilometres and hours ridden and posted. And in terms of the number of hours she spent cycling, which were posted on Strava, she comes out 3rd in the combined men's and women's list.

That means Morton and Porte were the only two pro cyclists in the world to spend more time racing and training last year than the Dutch woman. She rode 30,352.2km, with 479,198m of elevation during 332rides that took 1120.7 hours.

The only Irish rider to make it into the top 25 male riders was the now retired Nicolas Roche, who saw out his time as a pro rider, with Team DSM, at midnight last night.

In the lists below - which rank riders on the basis of the number of hours ridden during 2021 that were posted on Strava - Roche comes in at 24th on the male pro rider list, with 980 hours. He rode 29,192.6km, with 476,773m of elevation during 335 rides.

Irish elite male road race and TT champion Ryan Mullen, now a Bora-hansgrohe rider, ranked 196th on 676.7hours. He rode 21635.3km with 286,056m of elevation gain during 264 rides.

There are some caveats with the VeloFacts data, of course. Some riders post more of their training and racing than others. There are riders who also record a lot of their data but do not display it publicly, or who don't use Strava at all. It means the lists below are for fun and indicative rather than being an exhaustive record.