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Just watching the stage live. Hard to gauge speed on climbs. Any clue on gearing? Cadence is hard to judge.
TDF what gear are they turning over on the climb?
- Thread starter The History Man
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Normal compact road gearing has a lowest gear of 34 - 25. I'm sure they have bigger rear sprockets available to them. I rode up Ditchling Beacon with 39 - 25 which has a maximum gradient of 16 percent and an average of 11 percent. That was tough.
Normal compact road gearing has a lowest gear of 34 - 25. I'm sure they have bigger rear sprockets available to them. I rode up Ditchling Beacon with 39 - 25 which has a maximum gradient of 16 percent and an average of 11 percent. That was tough.
Here's a snippet about Bernard Hinault who was a big gear masher even up the cols:
.....he maintained that he always had a smooth cadence, but that he would “choose his gears according to the pedalling cadence that suits me – above this cadence I get out of breath too quickly; below it, my muscles are too contracted”. For him, that optimal cadence was between 70 and 90 rpm, a fairly generous range.
Big gearing for racing started to come into vogue in the 1950s. Fausto Coppi in 1946 reportedly used a 51×15, but Louison Bobet soon took it to a 52×14. Hinault was in awe in his early years over Freddy Maertens’s 53×12, which the latter used to devastating effect, and slowly worked his way up to harder gears for his soon-to-be dominant time trialling.
For climbing, a narrow range of gearing was the norm, but also bigger gears than those used today. Eddy Merckx, for example, was a big fan of the 44-tooth chainring (typically paired with a 53) for climbing with a 6-speed freewheel 13-19; for particularly tough mountain races or stages he would opt for a 13-21.
By Hinault’s time, the chainring set-up was typically 53-42 with a 7-speed cluster. Hinault’s gear evolved from a low gear of a 42-22 to a 42-24 (47.3 inches compared to 45.8 inches for today’s popular 39×23) as he changed his climbing technique to focus more on seated efforts. As he said: “I sit further back and pedal more smoothly.”
Seems a higher cadence and somewhat lower gears is the norm today. I think Lance Armstrong started that off,
Pantani was a bit of a high gear old school masher.
.....he maintained that he always had a smooth cadence, but that he would “choose his gears according to the pedalling cadence that suits me – above this cadence I get out of breath too quickly; below it, my muscles are too contracted”. For him, that optimal cadence was between 70 and 90 rpm, a fairly generous range.
Big gearing for racing started to come into vogue in the 1950s. Fausto Coppi in 1946 reportedly used a 51×15, but Louison Bobet soon took it to a 52×14. Hinault was in awe in his early years over Freddy Maertens’s 53×12, which the latter used to devastating effect, and slowly worked his way up to harder gears for his soon-to-be dominant time trialling.
For climbing, a narrow range of gearing was the norm, but also bigger gears than those used today. Eddy Merckx, for example, was a big fan of the 44-tooth chainring (typically paired with a 53) for climbing with a 6-speed freewheel 13-19; for particularly tough mountain races or stages he would opt for a 13-21.
By Hinault’s time, the chainring set-up was typically 53-42 with a 7-speed cluster. Hinault’s gear evolved from a low gear of a 42-22 to a 42-24 (47.3 inches compared to 45.8 inches for today’s popular 39×23) as he changed his climbing technique to focus more on seated efforts. As he said: “I sit further back and pedal more smoothly.”
Seems a higher cadence and somewhat lower gears is the norm today. I think Lance Armstrong started that off,
Pantani was a bit of a high gear old school masher.
And just to show that I was indeed wrong here are some pictures from the Tour of California in 2011 which appear to show that the riders are indeed using the small ring and what appears to be a 27t cog. So maybe 34x27? or 25?
Last pic shows eventual winner Chris Horner in his leaders jersey
Last pic shows eventual winner Chris Horner in his leaders jersey
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Poof ! Don't need lower than a 21 going up there
Only joking , I think the low gears they are using is due to both the length of the climbs , and the faster pedalling technique , that has developed in recent years when compared to previous Tours
Mike
REKIBorter":7i5leld0 said:
Poof ! Don't need lower than a 21 going up there
Only joking
, I think the low gears they are using is due to both the length of the climbs , and the faster pedalling technique , that has developed in recent years when compared to previous Tours Mike
Marco Pantani set the record on Alpe D'Huez mainly riding 42/17. Bearing in mind the Campag Record at the time it would have been 52/42 with a 12-23 on the back. I seriously doubt if many use compact chainsets today, remember that 39/53 looks almost the same as 34/50, but with 11 speeds now I'm sure they go as low as 27 these days. Sprinters aiming to survive in the Autobus may be an exception. Indurain did experiment with a triple but never rode with it in the Tour.
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standard road race gearing over the last 15 years was 39/53 x 11/23 but i read an article that said some riders were now choosing to run a bigger option for a rear sprocket, contador sponsored by sram was using an 11-32 according to advertising i saw, the idea was that he could climb the mountain towards the top in the top ring, then not having to change up to the top ring he could crest the climb with a better (rear) gear change which meant he could get a jump on his competitors. well that was the idea anyway.
having ridden quite a few times in the alps, i would say that a 39/53 would be the norm for most pro riders, compacts maybe for the sprinters for those steep stages though, regarding the rear cassette i would say having seen pictures of team sky's bus and workshop that they have all the options of cassettes but i'd be surprised if they went bigger than a 27t sprocket at the back.
i know i have climbed alp d'huez on a 39t x 23t, it was hard but i did it, these guys could do that no problem so i would suggest they go wider purely to spin as i know i would have preferred that to pushing, also having seen them in the flesh last year on alpe d'huez they were mostly in around 3rd/4th gear spinning or out of the saddle pushing 5th/6th/7th
standard road race gearing over the last 15 years was 39/53 x 11/23 but i read an article that said some riders were now choosing to run a bigger option for a rear sprocket, contador sponsored by sram was using an 11-32 according to advertising i saw, the idea was that he could climb the mountain towards the top in the top ring, then not having to change up to the top ring he could crest the climb with a better (rear) gear change which meant he could get a jump on his competitors. well that was the idea anyway.
having ridden quite a few times in the alps, i would say that a 39/53 would be the norm for most pro riders, compacts maybe for the sprinters for those steep stages though, regarding the rear cassette i would say having seen pictures of team sky's bus and workshop that they have all the options of cassettes but i'd be surprised if they went bigger than a 27t sprocket at the back.
i know i have climbed alp d'huez on a 39t x 23t, it was hard but i did it, these guys could do that no problem so i would suggest they go wider purely to spin as i know i would have preferred that to pushing, also having seen them in the flesh last year on alpe d'huez they were mostly in around 3rd/4th gear spinning or out of the saddle pushing 5th/6th/7th
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here's some pics from last years alp d'huez climb, the riders are in the inside ring and it definitely looks to be a standard size chainset, the rear sprockets though look to be different sizes, the saxobank rider (contador? number 93?) looks to have quite a wide ratio.
half way down the block by the look of it
P1110792 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
wide ratio?
P1110707 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
TJ van G in first, think he won the stage looks to be 27ish tooth i'd say
P1110688 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
pete kennaugh, possibly compact?
go on team sky! and peter looked! by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
looks to be a longer cage mech which does suggest the compact chainset
P1110675 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
jens voigt? in what looks like first gear but a standard set up
this may sound poncey but this guy i think was staring at my bike (the Demon) there was nothing else to look at, there was me, my bike, the trees blocked the view, the only other thing was the kerb! he wasn't looking at me, but the bike was getting attent by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
here's some pics from last years alp d'huez climb, the riders are in the inside ring and it definitely looks to be a standard size chainset, the rear sprockets though look to be different sizes, the saxobank rider (contador? number 93?) looks to have quite a wide ratio.
half way down the block by the look of it
P1110792 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
wide ratio?
P1110707 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
TJ van G in first, think he won the stage looks to be 27ish tooth i'd say
P1110688 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
pete kennaugh, possibly compact?
go on team sky! and peter looked! by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
looks to be a longer cage mech which does suggest the compact chainset
P1110675 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
jens voigt? in what looks like first gear but a standard set up
this may sound poncey but this guy i think was staring at my bike (the Demon) there was nothing else to look at, there was me, my bike, the trees blocked the view, the only other thing was the kerb! he wasn't looking at me, but the bike was getting attent by Dr. Branom, on Flickr
