Marcus Christie recently bought the TT bike ridden by Bradley Wiggins at Team Sky and has set some outrageously fast times on it, shattering the Irish national 50-mile record by over five minutes and winning the Ulster 10-mile at the weekend.
By Brian Canty
Marcus Christie set another unbelievable time to win the Ulster 10-mile Time Trial Championships at the weekend, stopping the clock in a race-winning time of 18mins 34secs.
The Derry man, who quit the sport in November last year but returned in the New Year, is getting back to somewhere near his best and his latest win is proof of that.
In Eglinton, Christie rode at an average speed of 54kph to win comfortably.
But what few realised was the bike he was on is the one previously owned by 2012 Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins.
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Christie had almost two minutes to spare on Chris Hutchinson of Team Madigan in 2nd, with Christian Nachtigall from Belfast club Phoenix CC completing the podium positions.
Just days earlier, when also riding the former Wiggins Team Sky TT bike, Christie had smashed his Irish 50 mile TT record at Woodgreen, Ballymena.
He clocked 1hr 35mins 32secs to shave almost five minutes off the 1:40:11 he set three years ago.
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Christie is pretty handy at the road racing game too. Above, winning a stage at the Tour of Ulster riding for Omagh Wheelers earlier this year (Photo: Stephen McMahon - Sportsfile)
And while the Wiggins bike will definitely help him get the best out of himself, he has been class against the watch for many years.
Christie bought the Pinarello Bolide TT bike through the Dolan website where it was up for sale for a hefty £10,000.
Among its many specs include a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 electronic drivetrain and Mavic CXR wheels with Mavic CXR-01 tyres.
The 177.5mm cranks came equipped with a Stages power meter with 58/44 chainrings matched to an 11-23 cassette.
Christie, who has dropped 10 kilos since the An Post Rás in May, is in mean condition at the moment and he was adamant the machine is better than anything he’s ever used.
“It’s just a more aerodynamic, stiff bike; it’s not like it has a motor,” he said.
“I realised I needed to upgrade to get most out of myself so I sold all my old time-trial bikes and Zipp wheels and my mum helped me with rest.
“She actually spotted the article about Wiggins’ bike on stickybottle article and contacted Terry Dolan herself before telling me it was coming. I then sold all the stuff within a week,” he added.
Christie now plans to try and improve his 10-mile time – as well as his 25-mile time over the next two months.
“I’m only getting warmed up,” laughed the former An Post-Chainreaction rider and former track and road international.
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