I was looking at the pics from the 5th stage of Le Tour de Langkawi and noticed that no one used disc wheels, aero helmets, bar end shifters, pursuit bars, or from what I can tell even TT bikes. The winner, Eric Wohlberg, rode a Cervelo Soloist and was the only one I saw with bar end shifters. The stage was an individual time trial on a completely flat course, so I’m a bit confused. I had heard that the aero helmets were outlawed, but what about the other time trial gear?
I just saw this as well. I can only assume that not all the new TT bikes are ready yet, or that the new helmets certainly aren’t ready yet or there is a conspiracy on. Ben Day is a half decent TT’er so it can’t be through ignorance alone…
because the TdL is also for showcasing Asian talent, the organizers ruled that only standard road bikes and drop bars could be used for the ITT. clip-ons were allowed. the rationale is that the developing countries cannot afford TT bikes for their teams as well.
TT helmets were also legal as i counted at least one rider using one. dunno why wholberg et al. went with the packing tape. maybe they thought it didn’t really matter so much since they didn’t have their TT bikes anyway and it was only an 18k TT.