The shift from professional cycling to long-distance running is yielding increasingly surprising examples. The latest protagonist is Alexys Brunel, a TotalEnergies rider and former teammate of Tadej Pogacar at UAE Team Emirates, who has demonstrated his capacity as a distance runner with a marathon time of roughly 2 hours and 26 minutes in the French city of Nice.
Brunel, 28 years old, is a cyclist with a clearly defined profile: a strong time trialist, a powerful rider, and with physical attributes that have allowed him to stand out in the professional peloton. Before joining TotalEnergies he passed through Groupama-FDJ and UAE Team Emirates. His cycling season has been marked by numerous withdrawals, and his last race was on September 23. Just over a month later, he surprised with his running performance.
His time even places him ahead of Tom Dumoulin, another former professional cyclist, winner of the Giro d’Italia ahead of Nairo Quintana, who has found marathon running to be a new sporting motivation and who recently posted a 2h 27 marathon on a course as demanding as the New York City Marathon.
Pero el caso más espectacular es el de James Whelan. El australiano, que dejó el ciclismo profesional a finales de 2024 tras competir con Pinarello-Q36.5, ha llevado la transición a otro nivel. Después de correr el Valencia Half Marathon con una marca sensacional de 1 hora 1 minuto, consiguió completar un maratón en 2h 17, una marca extraordinaria incluso para atletas especializados.
También hay precedentes entre los grandes nombres del ciclismo español. Joseba Beloki, tercero en el Tour de Francia de 2002, se acercó a las 2h 47 en maratón después de retirarse. Abraham Olano, campeón del mundo tanto en fondo en carretera como en contrareloj, también se adentró se calzó las zapatillas, para cubrir los 42’195 km en 2h 39′ 08″.
