When you’ve been an insider in professional cycling for decades, you often think you’ve seen it all, only to be proven wrong every year. The potential for innovation in modern high-performance sport is reminiscent of the enormous technological leaps in socially exceptional situations like episodes of war, which obviously serve as a catalyst for human ingenuity. And what’s now unfolding in and around the peloton has unfortunately increasingly degenerated into a war on the country road. One aspect of this is the battle of equipment among the team suppliers, which could be observed, for example, in the time trial on the second stage. And, as so often, it’s the small details that provide an indicator for the aforementioned hypothesis, once again collectively unnoticed by the numerous conformist commentators and their assisting opportunism experts. Admittedly, you have to look very closely, but that’s what this caste of journalists is richly rewarded for.
During the live broadcast of the individual time trial, the cameraman on the accompanying motorcycle noticed the technical feature on Polti-Kometa pro Mirco Maestri’s high-speed bike: an aerodynamic cover over the derailleur cage, something nowhere to be seen even on the renowned top teams, with their exorbitant budgets and personnel resources.
The object is an accessory from the Danish high-tech company “Ceramicspeed,” which is also available to hobby tuners for the mere price of €679 [1]. At Eurobike 2018, the company already presented a revolutionary drive concept that has not yet achieved market acceptance, but whose aerodynamic and mechanical characteristics reach new dimensions [2].
The powerhouses in the saddle have also entered similarly new realms at this year’s Giro d’Italia. Particularly noteworthy was the performance of the new rising star, Mexican Isaac del Toro of the Pogacar Team UAE. This cycling-loving diamond in the rough had already caught the eye of insiders at the most important junior cycling tour, the 2023 Tour de l’Avenir. There, he achieved the rare feat of winning all the classification jerseys. In terms of flexibility, a training component still underestimated and unpopular among many cycling protagonists, the young star delivered an artistic performance in various finish line poses. Hopefully, this is an advertisement for stretching and functional training sessions that will resonate with young athletes and their coaching staffs.
Performance analysis on stage 17 raises eyebrows when Tiberi (Team Bahrain), handicapped by severe injuries from a fall, reveals that he was only able to pedal at 350 watts on the Mortirolo [4]. Of course, this refers to sustained power, not what you, dear readers, can pedal for a short time on the ergometer before falling off. So, what do the uninjured top stars of the scene have to do to pedal? This can be learned, for example, from brilliant observers with relevant expertise, who present internal metrics on Wout van Aert during stage 16. This powerhouse blasted through a whopping 510 watts for 10 minutes on one stage, in the third week of these extremely tough cumulative efforts [5].
It gets even more bizarre when you look at the average performance of the GC favorites on the blisteringly steep Mortirolo Pass, which has a gradient of 7.6% over 12.6 km, with horrific ramps of up to 16%. It’s also important to consider that the competitors are in the third week of the race and have already conquered the Passo del Tonale and 100 kilometers of racing under their belts on this stage. As you can see from the brief display during the live broadcast, the top stars are powering up the Dolomitenhammer at a constant 400 watts. Given the reported ascent times of around 35 minutes, this translates to an average pace of 21.5 km/h! This, by the way, is almost five minutes faster than the previous record times from the infamous era of cycling. But back then, there wasn’t climate change, which would carry the aspirants uphill faster with warm thermals.
