I just read that this is the second time that Lance pulled out of his pedal in a time trial. Is it a pedal tension issue? What pedals does he use? One time might be a fluke a second time might indicate a design flaw.
What pedals does he use?
Shimano Dura-Ace, just like the rest of the Disco boys.
I remember Jakob Piil pulling out of his Speedplay Zero pedal in a three man sprint for the stage victory at stage 18 in TdF 2002:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2002/tour02/?id=results/stage18
Edit: It was a Look CX7 or PP396 pedal, CSC first get Speedplay Zero peals the year after, same time as they switched from Look to Cervélo bikes.
but his cleats are different. made speically for him.
Those were Looks he pulled out of.
I remember Erik Zabel pulling both his shoes during a mass sprint falling on the top tube and somehow not crashing at something like 60km/h…
Those were Looks he pulled out of.
Yes you’re right.
CSC-Ticali rode on Look bikes with Look CX7 / PP396 pedals in 2002.
Maybe that’s the reason they switched to Speedplay the next year?
Julian Dean’s CSC-Tiscali Look KG381i:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech/2002/features/probikes/CSC.shtml
but his cleats are different. made speically for him.
Amstrong can’t use what the rest of the team does.
Hen bike is also painted differently than the other Disco boy’s bikes.
Could be just part of the shoe covers getting caught between the pedal and shoe. It’s happened to me before with those pedals since the cleat is so big. You can click in but if any fabric is caught you may not notice until your foot slips out.
Actually, they normally require that the other similarly sized teammates use the same pedals as Lance. That way if there is a problem they can switch bikes.
Whatever it was. It cost him the yellow jersey.
Not forgetting Zabriskie had a good tail wind at the begining of the event thet died off. That’s worth a lot more than a mere couple of seconds.
Whatever it was. It cost him the yellow jersey.
I don’t know… he was ahead of Zabriske at the last time check before the finish by a couple seconds.
Whatever it was. It cost him the yellow jersey.
I don’t know… he was ahead of Zabriske at the last time check before the finish by a couple seconds.
I hadn’t spotted that, but it’s correct: 3 seconds at 14.9k: http://www.letour.com/2005/TDF/LIVE/us/100/allchronos.html
I’d bet a reasonable amount of cash that LA eased up over the last 4k. Much better to let CSC have to defend yellow for the first week than have his team doing that job. He did all the damage he needed to do by crushing all of his rivals by a considerable margin, when he and they were all riding in the same conditions (ie without the tailwind Zabriskie had).
Barring a crash, it looks like a race for second now.
I would have to agree. Lance probably backed off a little at the end. Just the fact that he passed Ullrich was probably enough for him for the day. Every year he has pretty much the same strategy, be near the front at the first week of racing and then take the lead sometime during the last half of the second week of racing which tends to be the critical mountain stages.
I am still curious about his pedals. I wonder if we are going to find out more about the problem. Its just strange to pop out of a pedal at the start of a tt. The accellerations are generallly gradual, not jerky like a sprint to the finish line. I think he is going to have to put in some stronger springs in his pedals.
This is from cyclingnews.com. “But when he crossed the finish like in Noirmoutier-en-l’Ile, Armstrong realized that Zabriskie had beat him by just 0’02. The tough Texan chucked his helmet down hard after the stage finish, but once he had cooled off, Armstrong realized that his ride today was still an excellent result. Also, the pressure is now off Discovery to protect the leader’s jersey.”
Why chuck your helmet if you eased up? Or was it just for show?
Bassey Obot
Slowtwitch Investigative Reports
Actually, they normally require that the other similarly sized teammates use the same pedals as Lance. That way if there is a problem they can switch bikes.
I think the pedals are the same for all within a team for this reason.
It was only mentione that Armrstron’s cleats were different, but the pedals are probably the same.
It’s probably some kind of special carbon cleats or something.
Nicki Sørensen from CSC dropped his chain after 10 meters.
On the video it looks like he handed his helmet to one of the assistants right after the finish. I don’t know if I would characterize that as chucking his helmet down hard.
"It’s probably some kind of special carbon cleats or something. "
I believe he has a different float setting on his cleats. Nothing super high tech, just personalized.
I am still curious about his pedals. I wonder if we are going to find out more about the problem. Its just strange to pop out of a pedal at the start of a tt. The accellerations are generallly gradual, not jerky like a sprint to the finish line. I think he is going to have to put in some stronger springs in his pedals.
Unless there turns out to be a rash of involuntary pedal unclippings, I am chalking it up to “shit happening.”
Someone mentioned a dropped chain… At the Tour of Italy prologue a few years ago some poor guy’s entire handlebar came loose after he’d barely cleared the ramp. My rear brake caliper came loose yesterday 5 miles into my long ride. Shit happens.