We Noticed: UCI Could Ban 10-Tooth Cogs, IRONMAN Ottawa Champ's Bike Stolen, Westchester Tri Returns and XTERRA Worlds Preview

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Originally published at: We Noticed: UCI Could Ban 10-Tooth Cogs, IRONMAN Ottawa Champ’s Bike Stolen, Westchester Tri Returns and XTERRA Worlds Preview - Slowtwitch News

Aliisa Heiskanen takes the overall age-group win at IRONMAN Ottawa. Photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images for IRONMAN

UCI Gear Rules Lead to SRAM Lawsuit

As a follow to Ryan Heisler’s piece on the SRAM lawsuit earlier this week, here’s a bit more info, including the UCI’s response:

Earlier this summer the UCI announced that it was going to restrict gearing to limit maximal gear rollout to 10.46 m. That translates to a maximum allowable gear ratio of 54 x 11. The move effectively made SRAM’s 10-tooth cogs illegal if used with larger chainrings.

The UCI cited safety and fairness concerns for the new rule – the idea is that it would limit speeds while also stopping Shimano users from feeling forced to put monstrous chainrings on their bikes to be competitive. The UCI also argues that allowing larger maximal gear rollouts favours larger riders. (But narrow bars that would benefit smaller riders and women aren’t OK, according to the new bar width rule.)

The new rule is a huge issue for any pro cyclists using SRAM’s drivetrain, forcing them to block off the 10-tooth cog and turning their 12-speed drivetrains to 11-speed versions. That’s why the company has taken the UCI to court (OK, to be specific, SRAM filed a complaint to the Belgian Competition Authority, which has in turn started an anti-trust action against the UCI). SRAM argues that the new rule unfairly targets their athletes and teams, and also restricts innovation. The company argues it is the only manufacturer affected by the rule – Shimano’s smallest cog is 11-teeth, and Campagnolo’s Super Record 13 gruppo offers both 10- and 11-tooth cogs.

The UCI has said that the rule is only being “tested” at the Tour of Guangxi in October. In a press release sent out on Sept. 20 to respond to the Belgian Competition Authority’s announcement of it’s “investigation into the adoption by the International Cycling Union of a technical standard limiting the maximum gear ratio allowed in professional road cycling events.”

The release continued:

The UCI is puzzled by the issuance of the Belgian Competition Authority’s press release before the UCI has even been served with the complaint and by the obvious inaccuracies contained in this statement. In particular, the statement does not reflect the fact that the UCI has publicly indicated that it will consider the findings of this test before considering if further tests are relevant in 2026. Only then, would the UCI potentially consider any changes to the regulations. Even more surprisingly, the release does not even deem it necessary to indicate that the test that will be conducted by the UCI is aimed at exploring measures aimed at increasing rider safety, which is a fundamental prerogative of all sport governing bodies.

Should triathletes care about all this? For sure. Triathletes have long been known as the early adopters of various technologies, and you’ll see lots of bikes set up with SRAM 1x drivetrains and 10-tooth cogs at IRONMAN races, including the world championship in Kona in a few weeks. If the UCI does decide that its test in China makes sense and adopts the rule, since World Triathlon often follows the UCI lead, we could see the same restriction introduced for triathletes. I am guessing I’m not the only triathlete who loves his 1x set up, and has really enjoyed having the 10-tooth cog on his tri bike. IRONMAN doesn’t necessarily adopt all World Triathlon rules, but even the possibility that it might could be a big problem for SRAM (and many triathletes) down the road.

Stolen Bike

Aliisa Heiskanen, the winner of IRONMAN Ottawa earlier this year (9:32:46), has had her pre-Marbella preparation thrown into turmoil after having her bike stolen from her car.

“The bike has some sentimental value,” she told CTV News. “I bought it from a Canadian Paralympian … he used the bike to get to the next level, and that’s why I bought the bike as well.”

The bike was locked in the trunk of her car while she was training at Gatineau Park. The Giant Trinity Advance Pro had a custom front end and a Flo rear disc wheel.

Heiskanen turned down her spot in Kona (she obviously won the 25 to 29 age category) because she had already qualified for the worlds in Marbella and wanted to redeem herself after crashing at last year’s worlds and ending up with a DNF.

“It was really tempting to do Kona, but I felt I wouldn’t be able to do both, and because I had already qualified for the half, I felt I should put the focus on where it needs to be, or I will end up walking the entire half,” she told CBC radio in another interview this week.

According to Heskainen, a bike shop in Ottawa, FullCycle, has offered to set her up on a bike she can use in Marbella, which she’ll be picking up tomorrow.

Toughman Westchester Triathlon Returns

This weekend I was in New York announcing at the Toughman Westchester Triathlon, which was back for the first time since 2019. Over 600 athletes took part in the event that included a small kids race on the Saturday, and the USA Triathlon Collegiate Club Northeast Championship.

There was some debate on the exact year the Westchester event got started, with one athlete telling me the first event took place in 1981, and another saying it was a year or two later. Suffice it to say that the race was one of the original triathlons in the US. Steve Tarpinian helped make the event part of the USTS Triathlon Series in 1996, and at its heyday the event saw 2,000 competitors.

“We are thrilled to bring the Westchester Triathlon back to the city of Rye,” said Event Director Rich Izzo. “The energy, community spirit, and athlete enthusiasm were incredible. Thanks to everyone who made this event possible — it’s just the beginning of many more successful years ahead.”

XTERRA World Championship in Molveno

Photo: XTERRA

The 29th XTERRA World Championship will take place in Molveno, Italy this weekend. For 25 years the race took placing in Maui, the race moved to the spectacular spot in the UNESCO World Heritage site in the Brenta Dolomites. The full-distance championship takes place on Saturday, Sept. 27, with the Youth World Championship to be held on Sunday, Sept. 28. The racing will be live-streamed here.

Athletes qualified for the worlds at one of the 50 XTERRA World Tour Events held this year, and there are expected to be over 1,000 athletes from 54 countries competing this weekend.

France’s Arthur Serrières and Solenne Billouin are both looking to complete a four-for-four sweep of the races in Molveno. Both will have some tough competition – Serrières will no-doubt be pushed by countrymen Felix and Arthur Forissier, while Billouin is likely to be challenged by Switzerland’s Alanis Siffert, who has enjoyed a spectacular road tri season with a third-place finish at Challenge Roth and wins at Challenge Taiwan, and the climbfests at Garardmer and Embrun.

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The gearing thing seems silly, and Kona is in a few weeks, not months… (-;

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Currently only mass start road races for professionals under the UCI umbrella may be concerned.

Triathletes have nothing to do with the UCI, they have their own governing organizations.

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This does sound like the author is employing whatiffery to generate some angst to suggest relevance and attempt some traction with triathlete readers. Given all the other aspects of a Tri bike which are non-UCI compliant, the chances of IRONMAN adopting anything in this area is nil).

On applicability, the ‘safety’ issue this attempts to address is scarcely relevant to even draft legal SC races. If ONLY we saw WTCS races with downhills (preceded by climbs obv) which might bring maximum development into play. We’ve just seen Weihai bike course emasculated with the climb which made last (and previous) year’s race a true test.

To add: Using a 10t rather than an 11t isn’t a significant efficiency loss (~1w) but there is a difference depending on chainring/sprocket combo to achieve that high/final gear ratio. Using 53/11 rather than 48/10 gives a saving of >6w - is a 1x worth that penalty?

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the 10T ban is ridiculous, just feels like lobbying to protect the old guard, not anything to do with rider safety

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The real impact is that we triathletes use the same equipment and if one channel of innovation is cut off from UCI compliant sport, then it’s less likely these companies will keep making this or innovating in this direction

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Yea as the person that asked @Ironmandad to write this story what we really did fail to include is how this impacts us as endurance athletes. Luckily or not road as ONE “big dick” in the room. the UCI. We have USAT, WTC, and IRONMAN. That all have the ability to make rules that are either positive or negative to us. So the question that I have is what are we going to do about protecting our sport with this issue. Who will be the one that in the end gets to tell us.. What we can and cannot use for equipment.

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Great points, @E_DUB and @Ajax_Bay . I do see the possibility that one or all three of the triathlon bodies will follow this rule if the UCI is able to convince everyone of the “safety” component to the change. The other question I have is this: if the UCI makes the change and triathlon doesn’t, would it make sense for SRAM to continue with a 10-tooth option? Is there enough of a market with recreation riders and triathletes?

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The UCI gear restriction test is for road races only and does not pertain to time trials so why would Ironman etc apply this rule for non drafting races? There are plenty of UCI rules that are not applied in triathlon so this one seems highly unlikely to be implemented. Checking the gear ratios of up to 3000 athletes in an Ironman would be something Ironman would try to avoid as well I imagine.

Also, the 10t sprocket will not be banned. It will just be a slight disadvantage compared to running an 11t system. 48x10 is practically identical to 53x11 and a slight bit under a 54x11.

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I can see World Tri adopting/following this ‘max development’ rule for draft legal racing only. Do the elites racing WTCS need a longer gear than 132”? Will any descent on the circuit reach >56mph (at 100rpm cadence)? I suggest that’s no and no.

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It is somehow fashion to point to the UCI to be from the dark side of the moon. And influencers from the triathlon bubble in particular point to the UCI to be responsible for many bad things.

Some personal points on this special topic:

As already pointed out, 10 and 9 cogs are not forbidden. Only is the roll out restricted to 10.46m, I think, in this road stage race in China. Whether there will be a UCI rule in the future and how it will look like is not yet clear.

Safety issues in professional road racing under the UCI were discussed often lately due to some fatal accidents. Ever increasing speeds was pointed out as one problem. Not only Wout van Aert opened the discussion on too big gearing.

Reducing roll out is an easy to apply and to enforce measure (there is experience in the junior categories).

In no instances the UCI moved to restrict the gearing for time trials (by the way, this applies too to the handlebar width and wheel deepness).

I don‘t think reducing the cog size to 10 or even 9 is innovative in road cycling. It was tested several times, that small cogs are less efficient. Fast cyclists opt for big chain rings in order to use bigger cogs.

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Good post. And why can’t SRAM simply make a cassette that starts at 11t to meet the rollout requirement for road?

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I don’t know, I fear it is politics.

Funny, I use SRAM AXS 12x rear derailleurs with Shimano 11-30 and 11-34 cassettes and I like it :joy: . (I also use a 49 chainring, non narrow wide, on a 1x setup for mountainous courses)

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Or, 2nd option. Shimano can make road micro-spline cassettes. Many popular rear hubs already have a micro-spline option. Say 10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,19,21,24,28 for ‘tight’ spacing and 10-36 for the broad spacing and a third option up to maybe 31 or 32 for in-between.

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So I have 5 different models of high stack shoes, all are deemed illegal. I have a Scott Plasma, which was initially ‘out of compliance’ when the hydration rules hit. And oh, my Plasma has SRAM Red AXS with a 10 tooth cog. I’m expecting some restrictions on swim gear to complete my rules violation triathlon.

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Next you’re going to tell us you have a Water Rover wetsuit too!!! (-;

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