Tour de France Won on Technology & Strength

The Tour de France is, for many of us, the pinnacle of our sport year. It is, in my own opinion, without a doubt the best sporting event ever, and showcases the toughest and fittest athletes our planet has to offer. Over 3 weeks, over 150 riders will travel across France, covering over 3,500 kilometers in 21 stages.

But though you have to be at the peak fitness wise, it isn’t all down to how much you’ve trained. Like many other sports these days, the equipment you use is just as important.

Careful study of the Tour de France will see a variety of bikes, helmets and even sunglasses being used over the Tour. A different bike and helmet is used between a normal flat road race, a time trial, or a mountain climb.

For example, a time trial – where you race against the clock for the fastest time rather than your opponents – sees the majority of cyclists wearing a tapered helmet, wraparound sunglasses, and riding a specially designed bike that weighs almost nothing, and presents as little resistance to the wind as possible.

However a bike used for a mountain climb is totally different, weighing even less, but proportioned differently, with less need for wind resistance and more need for maneuverability. You’re heading up a hill, rather than down or across a flat, thus speed is not your main problem; its stamina, endurance, and sheer strength.

Millions of dollars go in to designing and testing the right type of materials, design, weight, everything, so that each team’s riders have the best possible gear available to them.

"We create frames that will cut through the air faster than a standard or traditional round-tube bicycle frame," says Bill Duehring, president of Felt Racing, LLC, in Irvine, Calif., who are providing Garmin Chpotle with bikes for this year’s race. "We calculate that, in a five-hour race, an athlete can pick up five minutes by the end of the race going the exactly same speed on the aero bike as on a standard bike. That's a huge advantage over someone riding a bike with a round or traditional frame."

But even after all the millions of dollars spent on your bike and your clothing, when it’s a cold day and you breach a hill ready for a long decent, your team will still provide you with the day’s newspaper to stuff down the front of your jersey to keep you warm.

Posted by Josh Hill.

Source:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=winning-the-tour-de-france