Cycling never ceases to amaze me; Frenchman Kevin Sireau’s 200 metre record of 9.572 seconds set in Moscow in 2009 looked ‘on the shelf’ – as did his compatriot Arnaud Tournant’s kilometre record of 58.875 set in La Paz in 2001.
But one man didn’t just break both records within virtually hours of each other – he destroyed them.
François Pervis rode a 9.347 for the 200 to take two tenths off Sireau’s time – a huge margin at this level.
And not satisfied with that, he then took two-and-a-half seconds off Tournant’s time in winning the kilometre, also in the Aguascalientes World Cup meeting, in an incredible 56.303.
Pervis first appears on the world track radar screen in 2001 in the winning French team in the European Junior Team Sprint Championship.
Since then he’s been a towering