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Race tech: Giro d'Italia, May 14, 2009
Faster, softer, lighter
By James Huang in Padova, Italy
Ceramics for Sastre
Ceramic bearings are nothing new in the pro ranks but the ones on the bike of Cervélo Test Team captain Carlos Sastre were notably easier to spot what with their distinct blue anodized finish. Sastre has apparently chosen Enduro as his bearing supplier, including its top-end ZERØ bottom bracket and rear derailleur pulleys.
Enduro builds its ZERØ cartridges with Grade 3 silicon nitride balls and cryogenically treated chromium steel races said to be harder and more durable than stainless. To reduce friction even further, the bottom bracket foregoes supplemental contact seals in favour of aluminum labyrinth-type plates.
Like the rest of the team, Sastre is also now back on Rotor cranks with the development of its latest 3D model. Sastre's crankarms are further personalised, however, with special etching and some pink detailing, including the letters, 'PCY' - the first initials of wife, Piedi, and his two children, Claudia and Yeday.
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Lots of cush and a few special touches for Garmin
It's a good thing Garmin-Slipstream riders Dave Zabriskie and Bradley Wiggins don't have to foot the bill for their handlebar tape as both seem to use quite a lot of it. According to team mechanic Tom Hopper, both riders prefer their bars to have more girth beneath their hands and as such, he has to use multiple layers of tape in combination with fi'zi:k bar:gel padding to get the feel where Wiggins and Zabriskie like it.
Wiggins' Felt F1 is further customised with a pair of French O.symetric chainrings. Like the Rotor Q-Rings on the Cervélo Test Team bikes, the O.symetric rings operate on the premise of maximising forward motion when your muscles produce the most power while speeding the rider's legs through the dead spots.
The O.symetric rings utilise a far more radical shape, are rather thin and also wholly lacking in shift ramps and pins though and thus require a few modifications for proper shifting. Wiggins' Shimano Dura-Ace front derailleur is spaced back a few millimeters with a custom aluminum block and a newly available K-Edge chain watcher from AceCo is on hand to pick up the pieces.
Time trial specialist David Millar also got his own personalized touch - on his feet, not his bike. Specialized supplied the former UK national champion with a custom pair of S-Works shoes, complete with a British bull's eye printed on the heel.
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No oversized bars for Fuji-Servetto
Oversized 31.8mm-diameter handlebars and stems are currently the standard in the commercial marketplace but Fuji-Servetto's Fuji SL-1 team bikes were fitted with the 26.0mm size instead. This wasn't due to limited availability from supplier Oval Concepts, though, but rather choice according to company owner and founder Morgan Nicol.
Nicol says that while Oval Concepts continues to offer all of its bars and stems in both diameters, all of his sponsored teams have opted for the smaller size, saying they're well proven to be both strong and stiff enough for professional racing. More important to the teams, says Nicol, is the smaller size's lighter weight and reduced frontal area.
"The difference is fashion versus performance," he said. "Oval Concepts makes all of our bars available in 31.8 and 26.0 - the market demands it, so we do it. For mountain bike it makes some sense and it looks good - going 25 kilometers per hour. For road bikes it is a bad idea [and] for TT/triathlon bikes it is really ridiculous."
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Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by James Huang/Cyclingnews.com
- Carlos Sastre (Cervélo Test Team) is using a lighter and more comfortable Cervélo R3-SL instead of his teammates' more aero S2 machines.
- Sastre's bike was fitted with an Enduro ZERØ ceramic bottom bracket.
- More Enduro ZERØ ceramic bearings are found in the rear derailleur pulleys.
- Rotor supplied Sastre with a specially finished version of their new 3D crankset.
- PDL' stands for Piedl, Claudia, and Yeday - the names of Sastre's wife and two children.
- Rotor have apparently decided on a name for their new crankarm technology.
- Sastre prefers the '#3' setting for his Rotor Q-Rings.
- Sastre also gets his own individually styled name decal complete with his trademark pacifier.
- Cervélo Test Team reverted back to Shimano Dura-Ace 7800 not long ago and it appears the switch has stuck.
- Shimano Dura-Ace 7800 brake calipers aren't particularly light but they work superbly.
- A bit of carefully applied heat shrink tubing keeps the derailleur cables tucked together on this Cervélo Test Team bike.
- Garmin-Slipstream rider Bradley Wiggins has some special touches on his bike as well.
- Wiggins prefers more girth to his bars than most.
- Team mechanics use a combination of extra layers of tape and fi'zi:k bar:gel padding to get Wiggins' bars where he likes them.
- Wiggins' Dura-Ace 7800 cranks are fitted with O.symetric chainrings.
- The rings' extreme shape requires some tweaking of the front derailleur plus a recently release K-Edge chain watcher for proper shifting, though.
- Specialized have provided Garmin-Slipstream rider David Millar with a pair of custom S-Works shoes.
- The rear of the shoes is graced with a British bull's eye.
- Garmin-Slipstream time trial specialist Dave Zabriskie uses custom shoes made by Rocket 7.
- Garmin-Slipstream rider Tom Danielson is hoping for a good race after a lengthy period of mishaps and downturns.
- Danielson’s custom fi’zi:k saddle clearly has a lot of miles on it.
- Danielson has to run the saddle all the way back on the rails to get it to work with the zero-offset 3T Doric post - and the clamp hardware has been polished over time as a result.
- The Garmin-Slipstream team is again running PowerTap hubs throughout the race.
- Fuji-Servetto is in the Giro d'Italia for the first time.
- Fuji-Servetto have opted for the standard-diameter version of Oval Concepts' bars and stems.
- Silence-Lotto's Francis De Greef stands at a rangy 1.92m (6' 4") tall. Check out his saddle height!
- While Fuji-Servetto's stems go one way with their 26.0mm bar diameters, the Ritchey stems on Silence-Lotto's Canyons go the other with 31.8mm bar clamp sizes and a 1 1/4" steerer diameter.
- Lampre's Damiano Cunego is hoping for a repeat of his 2004 Giro d'Italia victory.
- Cunego's Wilier Cento 1 integrates the Campagnolo Ultra-Torque bottom bracket bearings right into the shell.
- Cunego prefers a traditional handlebar bend.
- It seems that nearly every team have their own way of keeping the cables from damaging the paint.
- Cunego runs 170mm crankarms.
- The ag2r bus had a few stuffed animals in its windshield.
- Barloworld went a little simpler with just a jersey stashed up front.
- Iced tea brand Esta Thé is a partner of the Giro d'Italia and the Columbia-High Road bus sported the company's mascot in its windshield.
- Garmin-Slipstream's more serious bus display is a map of the Giro d'Italia course.
- Liquigas' team bus is accompanied by a cheery lizard.
