You're missing a key difference.
The Oz champ kit has 3 stripes. The World champ rainbox has 5 hoops.
66% more stripes. Thats BOUND to be less aero.
🙄

I slid to the bottom a long time ago... I typically just make shit up and wait for someone to correct me...;)

So what is Ineos pulling here? Why don't they just let him use the helmet he likes? Couldn't get one made with the logos in time?

Sponsorship deal? Helmet and suit developed together? Dunno...

I definitely don't expect Dennis to be in the shape of his life, but if he has enough form to be team leader at the TDU then he's in pretty good shape. And if they don't want the same guy to have both Worlds and Nationals jerseys, then Dennis could just not show up. Racing and losing doesn't look good for him or Ineos.

Durbridge had a good ride at Worlds and was 13th. His speed was 95.6% of Dennis's. The relative W/CdA that would be necessary to close that gap is pretty huge... 12% or so? And if CdA didn't change, it's all power.

Based on comments Dennis has made in the past, it's pretty clear that he benchmarks this race. Does it every year, knows exactly what his fitness is coming in and going out, and analyzes the heck out of the results.
After the event last year word got out that he knew exactly how his effort ranked relative to the previous year's winning attempt, and that the difference between the win and the second place was consistent with the time loss he and his team calculated would be incurred using the equipment he was required to ride relative to what he had won on the previous year. He felt - and the math backed it up - that he would have won on the gear he had been using before.

There's nothing to suggest that this circumstance was replicated this year. The results might be the same, but absent a similar release of info (or anecdote) we have no way of knowing how his effort this season ranked relative to previous year's attempts. It's just as likely that he came away pleased with the state of his current kit, knowing that he would have been third with an equivalent effort on last year's gear.

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There's no way he ends up in third. He and Turbo were competing with each other.

I think you are reading too much into things without making a lot of considerations. I hardly think it was a huge priority for him to peak for as he is wearing the rainbow stripes so can't wear the jersey and didn't even start the road race. If you read the race report he went out hard for the win, was ahead on time and faded so form can't be that good but he had a crack. I am sure Enios have him down to peak for more important events later in the year. Michelton on the other hand see it as an opportunity for Durbridge an accomplished TT'er to be able to wear the Australian jersey all year. They also haven't won the Australian title road race for the last few years and it is an embarrassment to them considering the size of the team they have just shutting down attack after attack controlling the race but still losing. Having watched each year Durbridge is always the motor and work horse of the team so I am sure his fitness level was extremely high so the team didn't face further embarrassment and had both national jerseys for the season in Europe.

As for the TDU Dennis will be the only Australian in the team and is a strong rider so the team will be backing a local rider as that is greater exposure for them in Australia. In reality he will most probably be their greatest chance in the race as well but I doubt the race is a huge priority for their season.

Yes. I was being hyperbolic. With Meyer saving it up for the road race, this was a two person race.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

Durbridge will be racing Paris-Nice, then he will be the team leader at the Spring Classics - his biggest objective of the year. Dennis' main objective is Tokyo in July, along with the Giro in May.

Dennis has said that his form isn't peak yet, but still building and is where it should be for this time of the year while Durbridge is flying in comparison. Nationals is also a bigger deal for Mitchelton-Scott than Ineos being an Australian team.

Also, Durbridge has been racing on the same TT bike since 2012, while Dennis still has a trip to the wind tunnel this week. You're making something out of nothing for now.

Durbridge is Mitchelton Scott's classics leader since Hayman retired.

I don't know, Castroviejo's always been that way. This seems pretty extreme to me (early and late Movistar):




His Sky/Ineos position is sometimes even a bit less extreme:



...but not always:

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ZONE3 - We Last Longer

At this level, it is so much more about mental state and suffering. I suspect Dennis can dig deeper than he did...nuff said. The equipment is not the issue - all of this stuff is optimized and Ineos/Sky is superb at getting the little stuff tucked in.....perhaps being the best in pro cycling in this regard, certainly not unaware of watts being wasted on equipment choices.

Go out too fast....get too many people interviewing you before the race so you don't get a good warm up in, etc...who knows. Give the guy a break. At least until you can ride as fast as he does. ;)

The last photo is the one I was thinking about, but I agree and stand corrected, compared to the second one from Movistar it looks about the same. It is beyond me how anyone has the flexibility to hold that position on UCI legal saddle setback.

Well, I would, if he hadn't melted down and abandoned his teammates at the TdF because his skinsuit wasn't quite right or whatever. His Antonio Brown impression wasn't a good look.

I'm disappointed that we never got a decent story from anyone about what really happened. He not only bailed in the middle of the TdF, he bailed on his team for the rest of the year! No explanation, just the rumor mill. And his great performance at Worlds seemed to support the claim that Merida's equipment was the problem. Hard to imagine a worse disaster for an equipment sponsor! Maybe they could have done a better job personalizing the helmet and suit for him, but the equipment he had was very good, and better than most. My best guess based on the very little we've seen is that the primary issue was mental/emotional, and that he took it all out on the team.

It will be interesting to see how much change McLaren brings.

It sounds like Guiseppe Sarronni doesn't know how to handle his main riders. If you look back over the year, Nibali was NOT happy either. He had outlined his major goals - Milan-San Remo, Tour of the Alps, Catalunya etc, Giro for GC, TDF for stage wins, then the Autumn classics. At the 11th hour Nibali is then told he's also riding TDF for GC, along with a few other hints he wasn't happy. There were a number of subtle digs at Bahrain Merida on social media, especially the last few months.

Nibali would have been well entitled to tear shreds off Dennis at the TDF, especially when both of them were so vocal about working together for stage wins... yet there was nothing. As for equipment, word is Dennis was having issues with the team around the setup of his TT bike, not the bike itself. Dennis has some big personality issues, but his time at BMC shows he can be managed by the right people. The only reason he's not at CCC is he signed with Bahrain Merida to protect himself when BMC withdrew sponsorship and couldn't hang around to see what came of it, especially with a wife and young child.

It looks like Dennis' greivances were certainly legitimate, but he definitely needs to take a leaf out of Nibali's book on how to handle them.

From memory he had some issues with the Sportful skinsuit as well and they rushed a few new suits for him to try at that time with the TT the following day. All accounts he still wasn't happy and without anyone knowing the whole story it probably added the whole scheme of things.

Saronni has nothing to do with the Bahrain team and Nibali has never ridden for him.

Saronni’s management company runs the UAE team and, before that, the Lampre team for a good long while.

Yep, you're right. I was having a discussion in another forum around Saronni and staff issues at UAE at the same time lol. I've confused two different threads *facepalm*

Having said that, replace Saronni's name with Copeland's and my point stands, especially when you look back to the Lampre days

Agreed.

Cheers.

In my view, the way he quit and left his teammates was very unprofessional. Having said that, Nibali was recently quoted as saying that at Bahrain Merida he was not allowed to have a TT bike for training, which somewhat sheds some light as to what some of the management issues the team was having. The Merida TT bike was relatively heavier than most of their competitors around 2015-2016, the weight issue was subsequently improved in later editions, but it is somewhat interesting that a pro tour bike sponsor was making these design blunders not too long ago.

Not to mention too that the UCI really should be pushing for a safer position. Its never advisable to ride at 50+kph and only be able to see your front hub!!

usual dose of british bullshit, for sure...