Nine riders pulling an airplane into the air? It sounds impossible, but Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe miraculously pulled it off. The German team describes the stunt as "a unique feat."
The squad decided to enlist nine riders for this remarkable challenge: Florian Lipowitz, Jordi Meeus, Callum Thornley, Davide Donati, Nico Denz, Tim Van Dijke, Laurence Pithie, Gijs Schoonvelde, and Adrien Boichis.
Specially designed harness
A specially designed harness was created for these riders, enabling them to maintain a perfectly straight line to deliver maximum power. On the runway, the riders reached a top speed of 54 kilometers per hour. During this one-and-a-half-minute effort, they averaged 650 watts of power output.
The team’s performance engineer, track specialist Dan Bigham, had to coordinate the operation. The British rider succeeded, as the airplane—with pilot Andy Hediger—actually took off.
