Again in 2014, we have been handled to a Tour de France to recollect for loads of causes each good and unhealthy. The race made its Grand Départ from Leeds to Harrogate within the UK, which noticed crowds akin to Alpe d’Huez flock to the roadside. Sadly, we additionally noticed Mark Cavendish’s hopes of any stage wins at that version scuppered by a crash within the closing meters that despatched him dwelling with a separated shoulder.
Later within the race, we have been handled to a spectacle because the race took to the rain-soaked cobbles of Northern France with the eventual general winner Vincenzo Nibali happening the assault and taking minutes out of his rivals. It was additionally early on on this stage that the defending champion Chris Froome crashed out with a damaged wrist.
Though among the riders from the 2014 version are nonetheless going sturdy within the WorldTour peloton, one factor that actually has modified from a decade in the past is Tour de France bikes.
It may not appear all that way back however, since 2014, professional bike design has gone via a number of evolutions that place the fashionable race bike in a totally completely different class. In 2014, Nibali rode to victory on Specialised’s S-Works Tarmac SL5 fitted with rim brakes, a Campagnolo Tremendous Document mechanical groupset, and shockingly slim 22mm tubular tyres.
These days you gained’t discover any of this stuff floating across the peloton so simply what has modified?
Specialised S-Works Tarmac SL5 vs Colnago V4RS
Nibali’s Astana Professional staff had the selection of both the Tarmac SL5, cobble-focussed Roubaix SL4, or the first-generation Venge aero bike. Even with this alternative, Nibali completely rode the Tarmac, together with on the testing cobbles of stage 5.
When the SL5 was launched it was the primary bike from Specialised to make use of its Rider First engineering expertise. This noticed every body measurement get particular person tube profiles with the goal of creating every body measurement have the identical journey traits.
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Quick ahead to 2024 and the present yellow jersey holder Tadej Pogačar additionally makes use of a one-bike technique. Colnago’s V4RS is Pogačar’s do-it-all superbike solely deviating for time trials.
Though the V4RS doesn’t function Rider First engineering what it does function is aerodynamic optimisation. The tube profiles of the V4RS have been designed to chop via the oncoming air as effectively as doable while retaining a light-weight climbing-friendly platform.
In 2014 the idea of aerodynamic optimisation was nonetheless a comparatively new enterprise for street bike designers, with aero bikes and light-weight bikes sharing little or no crossover. The SL5 had large oval tube profiles that have been stiff and lightweight however removed from aerodynamic (when Specialised launched the Tarmac SL6 in 2017 it could convey aerodynamics to the fore of the Tarmac’s design too).
Groupset and kit ratios
This is likely one of the areas that exhibits simply how far bike tech has come prior to now decade. In 2014, Nibali was working Campagnolo’s mechanical Tremendous Document drivetrain with rim brakes. The 11-speed cassette is just not too removed from the 12-speed groupsets of contemporary professional bikes nevertheless the 11-27-tooth unfold would go away even the perfect racers searching for extra appropriate climbing gear at this 12 months’s Tour de France.
After we acquired our fingers on defending champion Jonas Vingegaard’s Cervélo R5 he had the widest SRAM Crimson AXS cassette doable fitted to his bike with the 10-36 12-speed cassette matched to a 52/39 chainset. This wider unfold of gears ensures that even when the gradients exceed 10% riders can keep their optimum cadence and effectivity.
One other step change between Nibali’s bike and Vingegaard’s is how the groupset is actuated. By 2014, Campagnolo had launched its first model of Tremendous Document EPS; its digital shifting platform. Nibali, nevertheless, most popular the texture of a mechanical groupset with the standard design counting on cables to manage each the entrance and rear derailleurs.
Leaping again to the current day, Vingegaard’s SRAM Crimson AXS outfitted Cervélo is a totally wi-fi affair with shifting duties taken care of by an digital servo remotely managed by the shifters on the brake levers. Not solely does digital shifting permit for very quick, correct and crisp shifting, however it additionally reduces the time mechanics have to spend on upkeep.
The ultimate large distinction between the bikes is that Nibali’s SL5 relied on rim brakes when it got here to placing on the anchors. Again in 2014, the WorldTour peloton was nonetheless 4 years away from having using disc brakes formally authorised.
Many execs have been more than pleased on rim brakes. In truth, many nonetheless hark again to that point now, nevertheless, on a moist mountain descent the management and modulation disc brakes present is actually not one thing riders complain about.
2022 was the final Tour de France to be gained on rim brakes and since then each staff has used disc brake framesets. This and the transfer to wider tyres have been probably the most extensively adopted tech adjustments prior to now 10 years by the professional peloton.
Tyres have gotten a complete lot wider
It’s onerous to imagine simply how far tyre expertise has come prior to now decade. In 2014 the peloton was slowly waking as much as the concept wider tyres may supply some efficiency advantages over skinny alternate options. One one that didn’t comply with this development in 2014 was a sure Vincenzo Nibali, whose Tour de France bike was fitted with 22mm tubular tyres.
Each tyres of that width and elegance have virtually all been changed, with just some groups clinging onto tubular tyres. As an alternative, most groups at the moment are working tubeless tyres that use a normal clincher type tyre however change the inside tube with latex sealant. This hopefully prevents race-ending punctures with the sealant in a position to plug small cuts to the tyre on the fly. Tubeless tyres have additionally been proven to supply higher rolling resistance than equal tubular tyres, presenting them as a marginal acquire in rolling effectivity.
The 22mm tyre width Nibali used was already a bit outdated even again in 2014, the vast majority of the peloton was on 23 or 25mm tyres with rim brake callipers limiting any riders desirous to go a lot wider than this.
In each the 2023 and 2024 editions of the Tour de France, Pogačar has completely used 30mm or wider Continental GP5000s TR tyres. The broader tyres supply a rise in rolling effectivity, higher grip, and nice puncture safety. With new wide-rimmed deep-section aero wheels, they’re additionally extra aerodynamic.
Pogačar is considerably of a trailblazer utilizing 30mm tyres, as a lot of the peloton run 28mm tyres as the usual; a width that was uncommon even to search out on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix again in 2014.
No GPS for Nibali
One thing that will look misplaced on even a budding beginner’s bike these days is the pace sensor and magnet zip-tied to the fork of the bike. SRM was the selection of the peloton when it got here to energy meters with the pinnacle unit doing with out GPS. The pace sensor sits relatively abruptly on the entrance of the bike pointing inwards in the direction of the spokes; one thing of an aerodynamic nightmare by fashionable requirements.
Fashionable race bikes haven’t completely completed away with cumbersome add-ons, with the race timing transponders sitting on the fork legs typically coated with a piece of latex inside tube to clean issues over. So far as head models are involved, the GPS revolution has swept throughout the whole peloton and with it killed off the necessity for any bodily pace sensors.
Bars are narrowing, and lever place is on the transfer
An rising development over the previous few seasons is for riders to level their brake levers inwards, whereas utilizing narrower however flared bars. The thought behind it’s that bringing the hoods of the levers inwards creates a narrower hand placement that’s extra aerodynamic.
The addition of flared bars permits riders to avoid the UCI laws across the most angle that the levers can deviate from being positioned straight forward because the measurement is taken from the axis of the bar.
Using flared bars signifies that riders can capitalise on the aerodynamic advantages of a slim driving place on the hoods while not compromising on management when driving on the drops.
Nibali’s bike in distinction is a much more conventional design. The separate FSA carbon bar and stem are normal of their profile with the Campagnolo Tremendous Document shifters parallel with each other.
It’s a small improvement however signifies simply how all-consuming the hunt for aerodynamic positive aspects has turn out to be within the professional peloton.
On the floor, bike weight hasn’t modified
For those who have been to weigh Nibali’s SL5 and Vingegaard’s R5 you’d discover that each are available just about on the UCI’s minimal weight restrict of 6.8 kilos. On the floor, this might make it appear like there was no improvement in whole bike weights and that will partly be true.
Because the UCI appears to be like to be sitting agency on the 6.8kg restrict, there’s little or no in the way in which of incentives for bike producers to take a look at dropping the load of professional bikes beneath this restrict.
For those who take a look at the event of contemporary race bikes although between 2014 and 2024 the most important factor to have modified is the transfer from rim brakes to disc brakes. This change instantly added a couple of hundred grams to a motorbike with the body needing to be strengthened on the mounting factors to take care of the uneven forces of braking. The hydraulic reservoir, rotor and calliper all added important weight over a conventional rim brake design too.
Between 2014 and 2024 disc brake bikes ballooned in weight with most bikes heading north of 8.5kg. Regularly although, from their widespread uptake in 2018, disc brake bikes have been on a food regimen with the whole weights falling 12 months on 12 months, though not all professional bikes are available underneath 7kg they’re the lightest they’ve been within the aero-optimised disc brake period.
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