The twist in the center of Cortina d’Ampezzo. The Slovenian in the final with 40×44. But is there a technical reason or is it just marketing?
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cast iron gazette
It is in the center of Cortina d’Ampezzo that we witness the twist of the 19th stage of the Giro 106. Primoz Roglic stops and changes bike. A planned change, a choice, not a breakdown. The Slovenian from Jumbo-Visma, second in the overall standings, switches to a 40-tooth single chainring, with a larger 44 sprocket. Let’s see what this means and why this choice was made.
relationships
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The weight of the bike does not change, since they are all brought to the regulatory minimum, i.e. 6.8 kg (all included). Change the development of pedaling. If Roglic, who mounts a Sram groupset on his Cervelo, had started with a small 37-tooth chainring and a 33-tooth cassette, he would have developed 2.35 meters per pedal stroke. If, less probable, he had started with a 35 in front, the development would have been 2.23 meters per pedal stroke. With the 40×44 the development becomes 1.91 meters per pedal stroke, which is much more agile. Someone, looking for an explanation at all costs, spoke of “better traction” in the wet since at that moment it was raining in some sections of the race and in the final part (just before the red triangle of the last kilometre) the gradient reaches 18% . In those conditions, being able to pedal seated and in agility represents a certain advantage. But on the Tre Cime the asphalt was dry.
Technique or marketing
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The doubt therefore remains: was changing your bike and focusing on the single chainring a technically correct choice or was it a good marketing operation like the system, also used by Jumbo, to inflate and deflate the tires while pedaling on cobblestones? Sram has certainly invested a lot so far to bring the single chainring on the road, which is now almost “mandatory” in off-road riding. But this choice, for now, is struggling and not just to establish itself on the asphalt.
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