He's been riding like that for a few years - if anything, in years past he was even more extreme in his position, with what seemed to be a 0-degree angle between his thighs and back, quads against the (non-existent) belly. Seems to work for him, as he's a multiple national champion and top-10s at Worlds.

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ZONE3 - We Last Longer

And that is when keeping to UCI rules. Imagine what he would do if he wasn't limited by them.

Is he a small fella height wise?

Not quite the midget, but at 1.72 he's short, yeah.

In the past he sat like this:

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ZONE3 - We Last Longer

I would like to know how much his Cd increases as a function of bar height. It looks like the highest point of his back is around the kidney area, so he could maybe come up a couple cm and still not increase his A. That might also allow him to roll his hips forward so there isn't such a radical curve in the spine, which might reduce the low pressure area behind his butt. Then maybe raise his hands a bit to reduce any additional airflow to the waist.

He's got that Arbus helmet tucked in to his shoulders nicely, too. The Catlike Rapid never fit so snuggly.

This guy did 10 miles at 36 mph last year...

It also looks like this picture is down ~ 2% grade or it is the angle of the picture.

Where is Jens with his "knees inside the intestines" position from circa 2009?

My eyeball windtunnel doesn't see any way to improve on that position. Impressive.

I think it's just the angle of the picture. Several other pictures from the same era show him in that position from all sorts of angles...

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ZONE3 - We Last Longer

Have a look at his cleat position....is that an optical illusion or are they drilled further back than the standard 3 hole pattern? Seems like having more toe in front of the pedal axle should keep the knees a bit lower at the top of the pedal stroke. Imagine pushing the cleat forward towards his toes on his left leg, his knees would end up higher

He might have the cleat pushed back as far as possible on the shoe. I know that is what I do with all my shoes as I like the cleat as far back as possible.

Marcin Bialoblocki is the guy riding the Factor. He is listed at 6' 6" inches tall. Castroviejo is 5' 8". Both are flexible enough to ride those positions and put out power. Amazing

Four things stick out:
- UCI fit restrictions
- the 'cleanliness', it's so not triathlon
- the 'non-american' gear, it's very 'euro'
- the front wheel was designed almost 30 years ago. DuPont ftw.

And by Factor you mean resprayed Plasma 5. ;)

Well a couple of equipment ideas:
1. Shoes without Boas.
2. Better skinsuit. Looks like very average fabrics.
3. Higher/better shoe covers. NoPinz come to mind.
4. Maybe there is a better helmet. The Aerohead integrates well with the back, but maybe the big lip from the visor doesn't work so well.

Other than the skinsuit, I don't think there is much room for improvement.

Amazing, to be sure, but the footnote is it was in the UK and massively traffic aided. His times on closed course are not nearly as impressive.

General reply to this thread. Jens must be off tweaking his position before he posts his 2017 version to make these guys look like tourists.

Is this common, What are the benefits and drawbacks of moving the cleats all the way back?

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BoulderCyclingCoach.com

Good eye. And I can't seem to find a good picture of AG2R on a Factor TT bike this season.
Wonder what is in the works?

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Alex Arman

Strava

Those following the WorldTour TT scene has known Castroviejo as being perhaps the one with the most aerodynamic position on the WorldTour. It seems like he is finally getting some good equipment within the last few years, which is probably (also) helping him - several years ago Movistar did not really have top notch TT equipment.

I remember Castroviejo overtaking Ryder Hesjedal in the Olympics in 2012 I believe, where it looked like he was only half the size of Hesjedal!

Oh, and I got a good photo opportunity with the guy some months ago ;p

We're not worthy...

I was going to reply to MTM with something along these lines but could not figure out an appropriate response....I think you got it covered here!

Haha. It would have looked better if I had been in the middle :p Strictly speaking, there could have been only us three participants with me being 20 minutes down on those two other guys :p