Focus makes the newest Izalco TT bike in the right size for Bardet - the guy is 1.85m according to Google! In 2014 he used it to ride a pretty decent TT.

Before the "flattish" TT stage, the side-winds were so strong that many lighter riders debated whether or not to use a disc-wheel. Bardet's choice of a road-bike-with-TT-setup may have been an attempt to ride a less sidewind-sensitive bike. He still got blown around quite badly and nearly flew off in a few exposed corners. Mountain-side riding in the aerobars on a gusty day can be sketchy when you only carry 67kg on a such a tall frame, and I speak from experience...

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ZONE3 - We Last Longer

Exactly, out of the 198 riders, there were maybe 18 (but probably not even that many) chasing GC places, and maybe half a dozen TT specialists (if that many) so circa 24 riders at most who care what time they set in the TTs - the other 174 just want to get round under the cut off.

I compiled the aero equipment choices of the fastest on stage 18.


Original post and commentary here:

http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com.au/...choices-at-tour.html

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Alex, your chart seems to suggest that going "no aero" was the better choice


I've listed the GC riders below with their time differences to Froome over the 2 time trials. The GC riders are both good at climbing and have a vested interest in a good TT result. Froome was always expected to dominate the TTs, especially the 2nd uphill one, so it is easier to use his time as baseline.


Rider TT1 TT2 diff
Aru +3:22 +0:33 (+ 2:49) - no aero
Martin +3:07 +1:28 (+ 1:39) - no aero
Porte +2:05 +0:33 (+ 1:32) - no aero
Quintana +2:05 +1:10 (+ 1:05) - 3/4 aero
Yates +1:58 +1:23 (+ 0:35) - 2/4 aero
Valverde +1:45 +1:18 (+ 0:33) - full aero
Mollema +0:51 +1:25 (- 0:34) - 2/4 aero


The 3 riders to improve the,most were Aru, Martin & Porte all who ignored every aero item. Going aero in the 2nd TT looked to cost Quintana and Valverde time (compared to their results in the first TT).

And they say triathletes can't ride. Truth is, these aren't intuitive to ride if you haven't done the kms on them, and these riders focus on what's important to them.

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'It never gets easier, you just get crazier.'

There are handling tradeoffs with a road vs TT bike, and an aero helmet is going to run hotter on the climb (so some [weak] arguments can be made there); but what I don't get are the differences in wheel choice. Some quick math or a visit to one of several websites will quickly tell you what the fastest wheel choice is.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Nairo Quintana, per the Rouleur interview with him, rides once a week on his TT bike in the high mountains.

That's a whole lot more TT miles than half of the Slowtwitch "I only ride the trainer" crowd.

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ZONE3 - We Last Longer

Not sure you can draw such a conclusion. This would be explained by there being greater gulf in W/CdA than W/kg.

That would be evident given the relatively small gaps in most mountain top finishes, but larger time gaps in relatively flatter TTs.

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http://www.cyclecoach.com
http://www.aerocoach.com.au

Also, I am fairly certain most of the people on this thread have never ridden a technical pro time trial before. There is huge difference between these time trials and the out and backs that amateurs do. Cornering at speed becomes a huge issue (something amateurs rarely have to think about). TT bikes are only faster if you can keep the speed up in the corners/downhills and not crash.

I am fairly certain this comment is meaningless. Sure we may not have ridden a course as technical as what they rode, but Tom D and Froome both managed. Obviously both of them put priority during training of being able to hustle a tt bike. The other GC contenders should have also trained for this sort of thing.

Those that tend to pick the non-aero option(s) are more the pure climbers who have a less good flat TT setup.

I'm not sure what amateur races has do has to do with the choice of equipment made by professionals seeking to win/place at the biggest bike race in the world. Some didn't even bother with an aero front wheel, when the average speed for those that mattered was 32-33km/h.

As for the implication that amateurs may not know what they are talking about, I can't speak for others but I've done plenty of technical TTs (e.g. on crit circuits), including UCI para world cup with many tight turns (plus team pursuit and TTT races and training many hundreds of times). TT bike handling skills makes a difference and is precisely why you train and practice such things. Just like the pros should, but alas many don't. And it shows.

In fact I'd go so far as to say that there are many amateurs that are better set up and practiced at this discipline than are many of the pros.

Being professional (as in you are paid to do a job) and exhibiting professionalism are different things. Plenty of amateurs exhibit professionalism.

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http://www.cyclecoach.com
http://www.aerocoach.com.au

Certainly you meant this final comment for the lavender room, right?