Real or fake?

The Rosie Ruiz of cycling.

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a28615122/rosie-ruiz-boston-marathon-dies/

No, it does work, as your aerodynamic resistance drops dramatically. It seems as if this "superman" position has been banned for safety reasons. I used to do this in the late 70's as a youth on my old 4-stroke Honda SS50 motorbike to keep up with the 2-strokes at ~1500m altitude - I gained about 10km/h from 75 to 85 km/h if I recall, depending on wind direction. Our technique required pointing of the toes as well, though! (My one mate had a rather proper crash, as he grabbed a handful of front brake when a cop jumped out to stop us. The cop let us go when he saw the injuries, reckoned it was punishment enough!)

I suspect that it is real and most importantly during a long downhill part of a bicycle race. Recumbent bikes are illegal in these races. I suspect this maneuver is illegal and may disqualify this rider.

I know you are correct. This video is legit. This position is now banned in bicycle racing.

See this link...https://pedalchile.com/blog/cycle-positions

There are many other positions that are now also illegal in bike racing.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/uci-publishes-images-clarifying-banned-rider-positions-491845

Respectfully Yours,

If you look at the other riders laboriously pedaling just to maintain the pace, you can clearly see this is not downhill....therefore if you stop pedaling, your bike will stop its forward motion, planking or not....Click on the picture I provided and you can see this electric bike sells for about $1k...

Notice the buildings on the left-hand side of the road at 16-20 seconds in. The retaining wall they are behind and below reduces in height as time progresses. The images are fast and blurry but I still believe this road is gradually going downhill.

You might be right that this is an electric bike but I don't think it is. It certainly is not the stock electric bike you cite even though the down tubes look similar. Also, if this rider is going to cheat with an electric bike with a hidden battery and motor, why would he demonstrate that he's a cheater by going into this illegal, unsafe, "superman" position? That defeats the idea of cheating.

Looks like he's going uphill to me....

I suspect Solar Eagle is correct. The thing that gives it away for me is that the pedals continue to turn

So how does he slow down for the pic with the scooter babe without touching anything..?...and then speed back up...

A scooter is not a constant-velocity vehicle.

Also, this video on the super tuck position shows a ten MPH increase in speed going from a legal tuck position to an illegal super tuck position.

Lastly, an electric motor helps a rider with elevating or going uphill part of a race. I would expect a mechanically engaged electric motor would actually slow down the maximum velocity during descent as the motor becomes a generator.

Wind resistance is the key. For those of you who remember Graeme Obree, here is a nice wind tunnel analysis video of the positions and bicycle designs he pioneered to reduce wind resistance on his body.

The cycling group in the OP are not going fast enough to gain any advantage by tucking...hence nobody is tucking....

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/02/now-that-the-super-tuck-is-banned-will-we-see-dropper-posts-in-road-racing/

...Also you can see after he passes everybody he uses his shoes as brakes to slow the bike down so he can get back on the peddles....why would he do that? ...he's racing...won't the bike slow down on its own eventually?

A well-maintained road bicycle on a firm and level road should not slow down while coasting for a long distance. Do you know what the nominal tire pressure is for a road bike tire?

This stuntman is riding a track (fixie) bike. You should notice the bikes he passes have rear derailers and brake levers on the handlebars. A fixie does not have a freehub so his pedals spin with the rear wheel when he lifts his feet. A fixie has no brakes. A fixie does not have a derailer. He has gained so much speed at the bottom of the run that he needs to slow down by using his shoed feet on the front tire to slow down enough to put his feet back on the pedals.

...but why would he need or want to put his feet back on the pedals, is he approaching a speed trap and fears being pulled over?

So he can stop. Look carefully at the rear wheel when he fishtails. The rear wheel stops spinning when he stops pedaling, causing the bike to fishtail and slow down. He begins pedaling again so he can regain control and not tumble.

The guy doing the prone position has a fixed wheel transmission whereas all the other five guys he passes have gear transmissions and that confirms that at least part of his motive for taking his feet off the pedals on a downhill run is because he knows he may even slow the bike down by keeping his feet on the pedals on a fixed gear bike.

I had a fixed gear bike to do my paper rounds on when I was a kid and there was a steep hill just before the shop where I picked up my papers for delivery and I would always take my feet off the pedals going down that hill because it's just so much easier on a fixed wheel to let the bike roll at its own speed because fixed wheel setups have no freewheel ability so you would maybe even slow the bike down on steep hills if you tried to keep your feet on the pedals.

And you can't get better proof of the beneficial effects of aerodynamics than this :