Amateur cyclist breaks Strava KOMs on Mortirolo and Stelvio, makes plea for pro contract

An amateur cyclist has made a plea to professional teams after he set the best Strava climbing times on Italy's gruelling Mortirolo and Stelvio passes.

Jack Burke, 29, from Toronto, Canada, took over a minute off Vincenzo Nibali’s KOM on the Mortirolo, bettering a benchmark that had stood for over five years.

The Canadian also claimed he broke the Stelvio record, and will upload the ride file to Strava in the coming weeks.

In a video posted to Instagram, recorded at the summit of the Mortirolo, Burke said he “just wants a chance” at a pro contract.

“I just broke the record on the Mortirolo. It’s November 16th, that’s why I’m cold. Yeah, I smashed it. I’ve got to look at exactly the time, but I think I beat Nibali’s record by about a minute,” he said.

The true gap to Nibali’s time was 1-07, with the Canadian holding 435 watts over 43 minutes and 45 seconds. This made for an average speed of 15.7km, on a climb that measures out 11.46km at an unrelenting gradient of 11.7%.

“It’s just one of those days where you really have the best legs, you just have amazing legs, and you’re seeing the power numbers, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, I’m on a good one today’,” Burke said.

“I’ve done everything I can this year. I wasn’t planning to race this year, and then Steve [Neal, Burke’s coach], thanks for somehow talking me into training again in May, and then I won every race I did this year. I broke the course record on three of them. I broke the record up the Stelvio – I broke the record last week, but I wasn’t supposed to tell you guys that.

“I’m supposed to keep that secret for another few weeks. If you’re someone who can give me a pro contract, you’re allowed to know that I broke the record last week. But for everybody else, pretend you didn’t hear that for another few weeks until I’m allowed to post it.”

Burke has spent the past two seasons riding for club teams, and competing in sportive events. He previously rode at Continental level, on teams from North America, Luxembourg and Austria.

In 2013, his final year as a junior, he returned an adverse analytical finding for a banned substance, but was later cleared of the positive test, found to have accidentally drunken contaminated water from a town in Quebec, Canada.

He has since written a book, titled ‘How To Become A Pro Cyclist’, and hosts a podcast under the same name, where he offers training tips to amateurs.

“Let’s hope some kind of opportunity comes from this,” he wrote on Instagram of his recent KOM hunting. “Anyone, anywhere, anytime. I’ll do whatever you want. I just want a chance against the best guys,” he wrote on Strava.

Burke’s next challenge, he has vowed, is to beat Tadej Pogačar’s record on the Col de la Madone in the south of France. “Pogi, I’m coming for your Madone,” he said.