2020 Giro d'Italia

Giro d'Italia

20008 Giro d’Italia: Lennard Zinn looks at time trial tech

Tuesday offered another time trial at the Giro, this time from Pesaro to Urbino. The first half was flat, and its second half climbed about 400 meters, including a 10 percent stretch at midway and a 12 percent section three-quarters of the way through. Riders had to decide if they wanted a full-on TT bike, which would be great for the first half and not so great on the second half, or a road bike with a clip-on that would be sub-par for the first half and shine on the second half?

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By Lennard Zinn

Giro Tech: Barloworld's Bianchis

Giro Tech: Barloworld’s Bianchis

Photo: Lennard Zinn

Tuesday offered another time trial at the Giro, this time from Pesaro to Urbino.

The first half was flat, and its second half climbed about 400 meters, including a 10 percent stretch at midway and a 12 percent section three-quarters of the way through.

Riders had to decide if they wanted a full-on TT bike, which would be great for the first half and not so great on the second half, or a road bike with a clip-on that would be sub-par for the first half and shine on the second half?

You can check out some of the top riders’ choices in the Graham Watson photo gallery of the stage. From the looks of it, all the top riders chose full-on TT bikes.

Here are a few more Giro tidbits of both TT and road equipment.

Photo Gallery

  • Bianchi has really stepped up its time trial bikes, giving Barloworld a powerful tool for races against the clock. The precise seat tube cutout, deep aero seat tube, down tube and fork, and smoothed head tube trailing edge are big improvements complementing components like the FSA NeoPro crank with solid carbon chainring, and the Vision aero bar and brake levers.
  • Bianchi’s duck-beak aero trailing edges to the fork crown offer a unique way to access the brake bolt on a deep aero fork.
  • Bianchi’s new integrated seat tube cap/saddle clamp offers ample fore-aft and height adjustment. Its clamp can hold the oval-cross-section braided carbon rails of this Fizik Aliante saddle without interchanging clamp parts.
  • Giro Tech: another view of the Bianchi saddle attachment
  • Bianchi’s Reparto Corse (Racing Department) was once legendary both for quality and style of bikes for its racers, like, in this case, Swiss rider Patrick Calcagni. I’m not sure what the reason would be for this big chainstay cutout, but it sure looks cool.
  • Barloworld uses Kool Stop dual-compound brake pads on its FSA brakes to run on the carbon braking surfaces of its Mavic disc and 5-spoke wheels.
  • Bradley McGee’s Cervélo SLC-SL didn’t see much use in the Giro, as the CSC veteran left the race on stage 3 with a broken collarbone, along with his Aussie compatriot, Stuart O’Grady. It comes equipped with Dura-Ace, FSA K-Force carbon crank, an Alpha Q GS10 fork, Zipp 404 ZedTech ceramic-bearing wheels with dimpled rims and hubs, Speedplay Zero Ti pedals, Vittoria Corsa EVO CX tubulars, and Tacx bottle cages.
  • McGee’s Prologo Max TR saddle has a replaceable cover. Don’t like the feel or the color? Just interchange the cover; it attaches to the base with Velcro.
  • After an extended absence, the revered handlebar brand 3T is back in the ProTour peloton. McGee uses a 3T ARX Team forged aluminum stem, its mid-range product, and for the handlebar, it interesting that he would have a 3T Rotundo Pro, 3T’s least expensive bar. On all new 3T products, LTD is the top, full-carbon model, Team is the next model, full aluminum, and Pro is the ground level, also aluminum. In the case of McGee’s Pro handlebar, it weighs 250 grams, compared to 162g and 192g for the LTD and Team models. For the stem, McGee is only paying a 2-gram penalty (advertised weights of 118g and 120g) for not getting the carbon LTD stem.
  • Those are Zipp 808 rims built onto Dura-Ace hubs on High Road’s TT bikes.

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