Sharing the news of his Alpe d’Huez KOM on Instagram, he wrote: “2 years ago I was hit by a car & that ended my career. I was crushed to feel like I never lived up to my potential as an athlete. You can’t imagine how good it feels to feel like the old Jack again & that maybe I can still do this.
“I don’t know what I’m training for, but I’ll be ready when it shows up. I just love feeling like me again.”
Pro cyclists make up six of the top 10 best Strava times on Alpe d’Huez
(Image credit: Strava)
Burke rode for a number of Continental teams between 2016 and 2022, representing Canada as an under-23 at the UCI World Championships. He has spent recent years competing in sportive events and KOM hunting.
In his final year as a junior in 2013, Burke returned a positive test for a banned substance, but was later cleared, after it was found he had accidentally ingested contaminated water from a town in Quebec, Canada.
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The 29-year-old’s Alpe D’Huez attempt was completed on 11 November, and uploaded to Strava on Tuesday evening. His file shows he rode the 12km climb at 20.1km/h, sustaining an average of 420 watts.
“That one hurt the most and to think Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar and Geraint Thomas did it at the end of a stage. Bonkers. I’m even more of a fan now. Incredible guys, so impressive,” Burke wrote.
The Canadian began his attempt in temperatures of 5°C, and finished in freezing conditions at the mountain’s summit.
“[It’s] the first and only time I’ve ever used arm or leg warmers (seriously),” he wrote. “Hands were so frozen I couldn’t work the shifters for the final Km’s or unbuckle my helmet after. Only the goofy Canadian thinks this is a good idea in November.”
