TDF what gear are they turning over on the climb?

[kaiser]

Re:

If you're really interested you could join Strava and follow some of the pro's. There has been some interesting stuff come about from the Yorkshire stages, for instance on one hill the KOM is still the same guy who had it before the tour came to town but the difference in heart rates is quite astounding.

 

[cchris2lou]

the guy who took the KOM before the Tour is a bit of a mistery . he did the same in the Surrey hills a few months ago . nobody knows his real name . Cycling weekly have tried to identify him with no success .

and his data has been analyzed and it doesnt seem that he cheated ( with digital EPO ) .

I read that Contador now uses a rear cassette with a 32t on the back , allows him to ride most climbs in big ring .

 

[Fudd]

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....

I've read reports in the past of some pro's charging up the mountains grinding the big ring and its always left me baffled. I mean, if they're not using the small ring on these monster climbs then where exactly would they use it? If these guys were so strong that they had no need for the smaller ring then surely some of them would ditch it and run a single on the front, no?

 

[mattr]

A lot of these monster climbs aren't very steep. As long as you can keep on top of the gear, it's not massively hard to big ring it. Small ring is fit if it's too steep, or you are too knackered.

 

[IbocProSX]

In the tour they are set up or doing 20odd days of 6 hours plus riding, and then going up the Pyrenees in the third week :roll: . I reckon if they do a single climb at the top of their game they would push a very different gear. So it is not that strange that a KOM is not set during the Tour.

I've given up on comparing myself to the pro's long time ago. I once entered a fun race on Sunday morning on the same course the Elite riders raced in the afternoon. One Richard Groenendaal, Dutch pro CX rider entered the MTB race (out of season) for his sponsor duties. Two observations: he spent more time on the stationary warm up bike than what the entire race lasted, and then in the race he went up the climb I did in the middle ring in the big ring up front and with like twice my cadence. And his big ring had a few more teeth on it too.

Enjoy!!