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FEATURES: TOUR DE FRANCE TECH: COBBLED TOGETHER
Zap
July 6, 2010
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The 2010 Paris-Rouibaix is all but history come July. However, with an unprecedented amount of cobble sections being used in the third stage of the Tour, it's as if the notorious Spring Classic had been moved to the start of summer. The Stage Three route has been all everyone has been talking about for the last few days. Some people think it's the worst decision possible while others just shrug and remind people that it's supposed to be a bike race (cue Tom Hanks from "A League of Their Own") "There's no crying in (cycling)...if it was easy, everyone could do it!"
And so it was that when the teams gathered for the morning of the race in Wanze, Belgium, RBA was there to chase down all the team bikes to see what they were doing to fight the notorious cobble sections to come.
Like many other riders, Lance showed up bandaged, but unbowed following the previous day's crash fest in the rain. The only mods made to the Radio Shack bikes were bigger 26c Hutchinson tires and plastic bottle cages that had been pre-heated and bent to pinch the bottle tighter.
Only a handful of riders, including Garmin's David Millar, were running these new top mount Shimano Di2 shifters which allowed gear shifts to be made without having to reach the brake levers.
Belgium was good to the Belgium based Quick Step team. Sylvain Chavanel showed up for Stage Three with a custom bike (painted up for him overnight) to celebrate his yellow & green jersey effort from the previous day. The Quick Step team was also celebrating their polka-dot KoM jersey worn Jerome Pineau.
Andy Schleck, Fabian Cancellara and Stuart O'Grady left their spiffy Tarmac SL's on the rack and pulled out their even spiffier 2011 "back in black" Roubaix bikes. These are brand new frames with Tarmac SL frame technology that uses a "Cobra" headtube design with no flat surfaces on the head/down/top tubes to attain higher levels of stiffness. The Roubaix bikes also use all new Zertz elastomer inserts in the seat tubes for improved damping.
As a cautionary practice, Andy Schleck was running these cut down Speedplay pedals which allow better click-in with dirty cleats - just in case he had to dismount in the cobbles.
Here's a close-up of the new & improved Zertz damper on the 2011 Specialized Roubaix - which Fabian Cancellara used to win the 2010 Paris-Roubaix.
Unlike the Saxo riders, Alberto Contador was content to tackle the cobbles on his trusty Specialized Tarmac SL3 mounted with Zipp 303 wheels and extra bar tape.
Yes, this guy was prepared to attack the cobbles with this specially design racing machine.
The Liquigas riders exchanged their Cannondale SuperSix bikes for the smoother riding Synapse frame.
Like quite a few other teams, the Focus bikes for Team Milram were running "classic" non-carbon, 32 spoke Ambrosio wheels.
Along with teammate George Hincapie, Cadel Evans left his 2011 Impec behind and opted for his 2010Team Machine. Fellow BMC rider Allesandro Ballan chose the third bike in the BMC stable, the older Pro Machine.
The Footon/Servetto team left their flashy gold chromed Fuji bikes behind in favor of a more cobble friendly and svelte looking SST10 Aero frame.
A popular cobble specific trick is to run doubled-up bar tape.
Carlos Sastre is the sole Cervelo rider with riding rights to the all-new R5 project bike.
Although it was only to last for the day, Quick-Step rider Sylvain Chavanel made the most of his dual jersey role. After multiple bike changes on the cobbles, Sylvain not only gave up his yellow and green jersey (and his custom painted bike) to Fabian Cancellara and Thor Hushovd respectively, but he lost his "most aggressive rider" red plate to Canadian Garmin rider Ryder Hesjedal who came close to winning the cobbled stage.
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