The UCI Men's Individual Time Trial World Championship kicks off on Wednesday. Froome and Dumoulin are expected to be top contenders for the Gold, but to me the big talking point is the fact that the UCI have essentially turned this event into a bike-bike duathlon with their course selection and lax rules. The final climb is 3.4 km at 9% with the final km averaging over 10%; this will undoubtedly see most of the riders switch out their TT bikes for road bikes for the finish and the UCI have even go so far as to set up a dedicated "Bike Exchange" zone at the bottom of the final climb.
Cycling News reckon that a bike change would cost between 7-10 seconds and that a lightweight road bike could save as much as 20 seconds on Mount Floyen, so it seems as though we'll probably see most people taking advantage of that. Now I don't so much mind that kind of thing on a Grand Tour, where it's already a mix of racing and adds to the complexity of the overall situation, but in a the ITT World Championships it seems a bit disrespectful to the discipline to effectively promote such behaviour.
I hope Dumoulin and Froome have been practicing their transitions!
Cycling News reckon that a bike change would cost between 7-10 seconds and that a lightweight road bike could save as much as 20 seconds on Mount Floyen, so it seems as though we'll probably see most people taking advantage of that. Now I don't so much mind that kind of thing on a Grand Tour, where it's already a mix of racing and adds to the complexity of the overall situation, but in a the ITT World Championships it seems a bit disrespectful to the discipline to effectively promote such behaviour.
I hope Dumoulin and Froome have been practicing their transitions!