It’s interesting that some riders start with a 165mm crank length. This apparent lever length and thus torque disadvantage is sufficiently compensated for by the huge radius of the chainrings. The hip angle, which is more open in the top dead center position of the pedaling cycle, leads to the possibility of a greater lowering of the upper body and thus an improved aerodynamic riding position. The lower wrap angle of the chain guide reduces friction losses by a further approx. 2 watts. Ineo’s captain Rodriguez exhausts the currently apparently feasible range with a 66 chainring, using a new type of hub gear for ÜV variation, especially on the climbs [12]. The maximum ÜV’s (60×10, 62×11) make it possible for racing drivers to continue pedaling at speeds of around 80km/h and still generate propulsion there. The fact that they achieve average pedaling frequencies of over 100 rpm throughout the entire time trial [13], mind you with incredibly high power requirements and absolute wattage, leaves the layperson astonished, the expert is left more than astonished.
The top teams also only ride with mono chainrings and chain drop protection. Conservative and possibly budget-limited participants are still using double chainrings, which not only have weight and aerodynamic disadvantages, but also have their pitfalls when the chain comes off and gets jammed [14].
All in all, Evenepoel wins with an average speed of almost 53km/h, although the course also includes a short climb of up to 8%, over which he climbs at around 40km/h and reaches almost 90km/h on the descent. Speeds that the locals can hardly reach even by car on the same route, which once again stimulates speculation about the professional cyclists’ tank fills.
However, the UCI officials shot down the bird in the time trial. They punish the local hero Julien Bernard (Team Lidl-Trek) because he stops briefly with his family on the route and kisses his wife [16]. A scene that aroused worldwide sympathy and was sanctioned by the supposed guardians of cycling as damaging its image. Instead, these busybodies should urgently get together with the doping prosecutors in Europe in order to stop the escalating lack of credibility of the performance spectrum in professional cycling before its image is finally ruined. The completely corrupt WADA (“World Anti-Doping Agency”), as the USADA (US Anti-Doping Agency) boss aptly describes it, is responsible for the recent scandal at the current Olympics in France surrounding the Chinese swimmers [17a] and their positive samples for trimetazidine [ 18], in any case no longer a serious player in the fight against illegal performance enhancement. The doping analysis laboratories have been a complete failure for some time because they were completely dependent on the highly criminal sports mafia and their manipulation arsenal [17b].
On the 9th stage, the organizer takes into account the growing popularity of gravel races and chases the field over 17 gravel road sections, which pose extreme challenges to both the pedalers’ driving technique and the teams’ technical logistics. The wheel material has to be completely changed, especially when it comes to tires for this one day. Team DSM-Firmenich, for example, rides 30mm gravel special casings with inlay puncture protection and significantly lower tire pressure (sometimes under 5 bar) instead of the normal road wheels [19]. For the Red Bull-Bora-Hans Grohe team, for example, the conversion of entire team equipment including replacement wheels for the gravel sections amounts to a whopping 102 newly equipped wheels just for this one stage [20]. The GC favorites’ fear of the puncture devil is particularly great on this surface, and the Visma team delivers a technically tactical masterpiece. When GC top favorite and team captain Vingegaard reports a defect on a piece of gravel, his noble domestique Jan Tratnik gives him the work tool, on which Vingegaard completes the entire stage. The wheel geometry of Tratnik’s vehicle corresponded exactly to Vingegaard’s seating position measurements [21] due to the similar anthropometry of the two actors. As a result, Vingegaard did not lose his position or time in the overall standings, a real feat of perfect teamwork. Another example of how the top teams Visma and UAE present themselves with their team strength on this stage is the composition of the decisive groups during the race. Visma and UAE each have five riders represented in the GC group, Red Bull-Bora-Hans Grohe and Lotto-Soudal are only present with two protagonists each, but at least they have other riders as backup in the third group behind the GC favorites placed.
