Adam Yates might have parked his bike for the off-season but he hasn't put his feet up. The British rider ran a marathon at the weekend, and did so in rapid fashion.
Yates, who finished third at Il Lombardia a month ago, took part in the Barcelona marathon on Sunday, not far from his home in Andorra, and broke the esteemed three-hour barrier. According to the official results, Yates' net time was 2:58:43, placing him 584th in a field of around 10,000.
The winner ran 2:06:01, while Eliud Kipchoge's world record stands at 2:01:39.
Yates appeared to run a consistent pace throughout, averaging four minutes 14 seconds per kilometre for the 42.195-kilometre course.
Those statistics might not be totally reliable, however. Yates took a photo of his sports watch, which was tracking his run and gave a time of 2:58:08 and a total distance of 42.65km. That would make his effort even more impressive, with an average pace of 4:11/km.
"I think I'll stick to bike riding," Yates joked in a social media post. "Couple of weeks on the beach not the most ideal prep but I'm happy."
Yates' natural endurance seems to have carried over into the world of running, and he's not the only rider to make the cross over.
Wout van Aert has been known to strap on his trainers during the off-season and even during training camps. The Belgian champion recently ran the Antwerp 10-mile race, clocking 1:11:11 at a pace of 4:25/km.
Tom Pidcock caused a stir earlier this year when he claimed to have run a 5k in 13:25 - five seconds shy of the British record - only for social media users to suggest his tracking device had been inaccurate.
One of the people who pointed out the error was Israel Start-Up Nation's Michael Woods, who used to be an elite-level middle-distance runner before he made the switch to professional cycling.
