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Was that the most impressive time trial performance of all time? Jonas Vingegaard destroyed his closest rival, Tadej Pogačar, who in turn had destroyed the rest of the field. We are working on a follow-up to our Optimising for the stage 16 time trial preview, delving into some of the finer details of said performances.
In the meantime, feed your time trial tech needs with this start Village gallery.
Where else could we start than with the stage winner and now-dominant yellow jersey, Jonas Vingegaard. Setting aside the performance for this article, let’s focus on the tech. Vingegaard (and Wout van Aert) both rode on unpainted Cervelo P5s. Mathieu Heijboer, Head of Performance at Jumbo-Visma, confirmed the lack of paint saved somewhere in the region of 100 grams. Otherwise Vingegaard’s TT bike was almost as standard. SRAM Red Etap AXS groupset, 2X drivetrain, and Vision custom bars (more on these later) One thing that did stand out on both Vingegaard and van Aert’s bike was these new Corsa Pro Speed tubeless tyres in 26 mm and SRAM’s Centreline X rotors which could save as much as 35 grams per rotor. Pogačar was aboard the Colnago TT1 time trial bike for the first portion of the stage. The bike makes the most of the recently relaxed UCI frame regulations, but it is thought to come with a weight penalty. Pogačar later swapped to his Colnago V4Rs for the final climb to the finish but ultimately lost out to Vingegaard by 1min38. More on this in our forthcoming time trial analysis piece. Pogačar and co have new aero extensions from the Australian brand Sync for 2023. The EVO PRO TI extensions are custom-made from 3D scans to each rider’s forearm to ensure optimal support for the arm in a “high hand position” and aero integration with the forearm. The risers also seem custom made. Pogačar raced with an AeroCoach Aeox Ultra Orbit carbon road disc wheel in the time trial. At a claimed 980 grams, the Aeox Ultra disc is one of the lightest tubeless, disc-brake, disc wheels available. The Carbon-Ti disc rotor is further evidence of UAE’s focus on weight reduction for this time trial. With the 6-bolt mount on the Aeox disc, the team could also ditch the direct-mount adapter required with these rotors on their Enve road wheels, meaning they can harness the full weight-saving potential of this rotor featuring a carbon inner body and titanium fixing rivets. The spare bikes were equipped with Enve wheels. Tubeless tyres, latex inner tubes. The latex tubes are likely every bit as fast as tubeless, but there is a theory within the peloton that they offer better puncture resistance than tubeless and sealant solutions. Many teams now believe smaller nicks in the tyre can sometimes allow air to escape if the sealant does not work effectively, while such tiny cuts do not reach through the tyre to puncture the latex tube, which itself should also be more resistant to small cuts and sharp objects. Most of the Jumbo-Visma team raced with regular team build and painted Cervelo P5s. This included Reserves’s 77 front wheel which features a 77 mm-deep rim with 22 mm internal width and 31 mm external width.You never want brake rub, but you really don’t want brake rub in a mountain TT.BMC had its new TT bike on show again. The bike is still very much under wraps and decked out in BMC’s new Create Speed prototype livery. Felix Gall was one of the chosen few to race on the new rig. A closer look at just how deep that head tube and fork are, plus a better view of just how much that top tube tapers towards the seat tube. Gall was on softs (F1 joke). Joking aside, Pirelli unveiled the P-Zero Race TT earlier this year. The new tyre is said to be 5% lighter and offers 15% less rolling resistance. Lawson Craddock also has extensions from Sync Ergonomics, but some extensions are not like the others. Simon Yates does, though get the same Sync 3D-printed extensions we see on Team UAE-Emirates bikes. Movistar had some new carbon extensions which also seem to be custom-made to the rider’s fit. Wired blips on the Movistar base bars. Neilson Powless was all in for the KOM points on the Côte de Domancy. The team worked to put together this Lab 71 SystemSix. It’s an interesting setup, the team has ditched its usual 60 mm deep front rim for a 45 for a lighter setup, but then opted for a full disc on the rear for improved aerodynamics. However, Escape Collective understands this is in fact a new superlight disc wheel from Vision, although no details are yet available. A 64-gram disc brake rotor from Spanish brand Galfer will help get the weight down also. Although it seems this combination will have required a 6-bolt to centre lock adapter. The team typically rides with the Speedplay Aero pedals anyway, so it makes sense we see them on what is effectively an aero hillclimb bike. Stage 16 was the rare occasion in modern time trials when there wasn’t a 1X in sight. Some of the Lidl-Trek riders were on 56/43 chainring combinations. Team DSM – Firmenich will now use Syncros’ new Capital SL aero wheels in time trial stages. The wheels are seriously impressive; as our own James Huang put it in his review of the new Syncros wheels earlier this week: “If there’s a better high-performance all-around road wheelset out there, I don’t know what it is.”Deep, wide, and light, ideal for a mountainous time trial. Unfortunately, DSM didn’t have anyone in a position to really trouble the time sheets in the stage 16 time trial.The team is also using the new Scott Plasma with these well-considered and highly adjustable extensions. Both the length and grip angle are easily adjustable. I wasn’t on the ground for the time trial, but this photo might give you a clue as to who to thank for all these images. The UCI introduced new regulations on time trial positions based on three height categories. Long story short, riders in category 1 (rider height < 180cm) have the same position range available as previously applied to all. Riders in category two (181-190cm) get some extra reach and grip height, while riders in category three (> 190cm) get the most. Riders must present their bike for testing with one of these stickers signifying their height category. Bikes with no sticker will be measured against the category 1 measurements. Riders in category 2 and 3 may be required to provided evidence of their height as measured and signed off by a doctor. A clearer look at the UCI’s new height categories. Aerocoach’s Ascalon extensions make an appearance at Team Israel-Premier Tech. The more shifters the better, apparently. While Wattshop’s Anemoi extensions made an appearance on Uno-X’s Dare TT bikes. Two British brands at the cutting edge of aero equipment, the Wattshop and Aerocoach comparison kind of feels a bit like the “Oasis or Blur Britpop battle” of the mid-90s. Ignore the in focus shifters and grips here, instead check out the extension extender plates Ridley and Lotto-Dstny continue to tease this prototype time trial bike. It first made an appearance at the World Championships last year, but still no official announcement on the new TT rig. Astana are racing with SLF’s Aero System pulley cage with a 14-tooth and 18-tooth pulley wheel combination and an aero cover … definitely not a fairing.The new Look extensions offer similar adjustability to those Syncros ones mentioned earlier. Head unit mounts and TT extensions rarely look this well integrated. Your saddle looks a bit high.Plenty of teams, Bahrain-Victorious and Jumbo-Visma included, use these Vision branded extensions. They are clearly custom-made, but I don’t recall hearing any details on them from Vision.Wout van Aert Team had the same (but different, these are custom) extensions with grips specifically designed to house the SRAM wireless blips.This set includes shifter buttons on the underside of the grip at the front. Daniel Oss with an unbranded CeramicSpeed OSPW Aero derailleur pulley system.Ineos had a new tri-spoke from Princeton CarbonWorks. While the new rim looks relatively similar to Princeton’s existing tri-spoke, it may be wider given the move towards 28 mm TT tyres and the 27mm external width on the existing PCW tri-spoke. The hub shell is clearly different and much more like British brand Revolver’s tri-spoke offering. It seems Princeton has decided to increase the height of the hub shell while retaining the same 80 mm-deep rim on the existing Mach 7580 Tri-Spoke. Whether the taller hub negates some of the brake rotor drag or effectively closes the opening inside the rim to help with flow reattachment or both, we will have to wait to find out. While some riders warmed up on their spare bikes fitted with the existing Tri-Spoke, interestingly, and perhaps a little bizarrely, only Carlos Rodriguez, the team’s one remaining GC hope, was the only Ineos rider we could find actually to race with the existing wheel. Everyone else raced with the new wheel.
