When you need to stop twice to change both wheels and then your bike, you'd be inclined to take a few chances going down the first mountain on a long Tour stage to regain contact with the field (File photo)
The Tour de France is generally won by those who are fastest at a combination of the sport's toughest disciplines; climbing and time trialling.
But riders who are not great at going uphill and perhaps get dropped can make up minutes on the descents if they're fearless, know how to handle a bike and if they're a bit buts.
Yesterday on the Tour's stage 9 in Andorra, Australian Leigh Howard hit a maximum speed of 122.7km per hour - that's 76.24 miles per hour.
Howard, who rides for IAM Cycling, shared a photo of his speedo on Twitter after the stage with the hastag #shittingmyself.
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Reached a new max speed today chasing back on after double wheel change then a bike change. #shittingmyself! pic.twitter.com/VTsgdS6ebp
— Leigh Howard (@leighhoward1) July 10, 2016
He was forced to change both wheels and then his bike early in the stage and so flew down the descent of the first climb to ensure he would not be left behind so early and with such an epic stage to come.
As well as having the incentive of getting back into the bunch where there was relative safety in numbers as far as the time cut was concerned at the finish, he also lives in Andorra so knew the roads he was speeding down.
He'd eventually finish in the 65-man last group on the road some 35mins and 26secs down on the winner of the 184km race, Tom Dumoulin of Giant Alpecin.
His speed is still just a shade under the fastest ever speed Mark Cavendish has said in the past he's reached; 124km per hour.
That was on a descent in the Tour de Suisse in 2009, with Fabian Cancellara reaching a staggering 131km per hour on the same stretch of road that day.
And our own Sean Kelly has said before he once reached 124 km per hour, coming off the Col du Joux Plane on the 1984 Tour.
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