Thread by @alexdowsett

Tomorrow’s TT is going to be fascinating (for those that find TT’s fascinating) one to watch. A lot more variables than normal to consider; a thread of medium length...

TT bike vs Road bike vs a hybrid of the 2?
The teams taking this seriously will have modelled both sections of the course separately & for riders Individually, the model’s would’ve taken into account both w/aero and w/kg this isn’t hugely difficult to do with best bike split.

Without modelling it myself (maldon 10 to prepare for tomo) I’d guess it’s a no brainer to take the tt bike in all it’s TT aero’ness for the stretch to the base of Planche de Belle Filles. But the tricky bit is if or when to change bikes?

If the race has determined a point to change bikes specifically and that point is whilst the speed is 50kph+ then there’s a lot more time lost in slowing, changing, speeding up (on a aero slower bike) than if the change is on the slopes of the climb at say 15kph.

But also, Road riders changing bikes is often not a pretty affair and Sod’s law will mean that cleats likely won’t find pedals at Van Der Poel Cyclo cross speeds (exception WVA). And whether the mechanic can give you a push as uphill getting going is tough will be a gain

Pretty simply the time lost in the change can calculated against the time lost by riding a tt bike up a mountain or the time loss from the aero loss by running a hybrid road/tt setup throughout the whole course.

HOWEVER

So @xavierdisley has done some great info graphics of the gains losses on the course. I’ll add a few points into the equation. Bike change decisions from the rider’s point of view will also take into account their TT bike and what it’s like riding uphill....

Some TT bike brands have an absurdly low base bar, whilst others have a high base bar, if the rider is v tall the base bar becomes even lower as TT bikes rarely have a height adjustment there, dream scenario is an upturn style upturn base bar that’s akin to road bike hoods height

Weight, there’s some light tt bikes out there, around the 7-7.5kg mark, and there’s some TT bikes that could do with going on a diet out there, pushing 10kg in some cases. Again this’ll be taken into account in the modelling

But a hybrid, road bike with clip on’s effectively, unless it’s been tunnel or track aero tested it really is a stab in the dark as to how much time you’ll lose before the climb starts, so this option really can’t be an afterthought over the last day or 2.

So equipment choices will be great to see, I think it’ll be quite easy tomorrow to recognise the teams that know, & have known since the inception of the course exactly what to do, there’ll be teams that take an educated guess, and some teams that leave it to rider preference.

Anyways, hope you found that interesting! Or just skimmed over if a TT day is about as exciting as watching paint dry.