Photo: © AFP
Edited by John Stevenson
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French manufacturer Look had reason to celebrate when Credit Agricole's Thor Hushovd finished this year's Tour de France with the maillot vert, or sprinter's green jersey.
The Norwegian rider used the new KeO pedals and achieved his milestone on the 20th anniversary of Bernard Hinault's fifth and final TdF victory in 1985 - the first for any rider using clipless pedals.
Since that time, clipless pedals have become the standard for all road cyclists, and widely used on the track as well - but with extra retention straps for the powerhouse sprinters.
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It was only in 2004 that Look introduced a major change to the original clipless pedal design with the KeO, with the major improvements in reduced weight, increased contact area between cleat and pedal, and finally, placing the rider's foot closer to the pedal axle (see our story on the design process that led to the KeO).
The pedals were used by six sponsored teams in the TdF (Credit Agricole, Cofidis, Fassa Bortolo, Illes Balears, Liberty Seguros, and Liguigas) other high profile riders, such asone of Hushovd's major rivals in the battle for green, Davitamon-Lotto's Robbie McEwen, and also Alejandro Valverde.
Hushovd and all the Credit Agricole team rode Look's 585 frameset and HSC 5 fork, with his complete bike weighing in at the 7kg mark, slightly over the UCI's minimum weight limit of 6.8kg, but Thor is one of the larger riders in the peloton.
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What was interesting, ironically, is that his bike was quite 'standard'. It had a round stem and 'bars made of metal, not composites, and was entirely built up from off-the-shelf components (as Anthony Tan reported from the Tour on July 14) . Look is one of those companies that sells the same kit used by the world's best riders, so apart from cost, of course, it is possible to experience a real TdF bike - as long as you have the readies.
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What was special for CA at the Tour was a new time trial frame, the 496, that was based on the 'Athens' model track bike. Hushovd also used the same frame to win this year's national time trial championship in Norway.
The frame was developed to withstand the forces exerted by some of the world 's strongest riders and it was further refined by wind tunnel testing at Magny Cours circuit by Look and the French Cycling Federation.
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We looked at a couple of Saunier Duval bikes a few weeks ago, including Juan Manuel Garate's team-mate Leonardo Piepoli's bike, but here's a quick look at one of the more striking rigs in this year's pro peloton, Juan Manuel Garate's.
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Like other Saunier Duval - Prodir bikes, it's built around Scott's featherweight CR1 frame, but with two notable custom tweaks. The most striking is the paint job - red and yellow flames on the otherwise black carbon of the CR1. You can no doubt fill in all the lame 'Garate's on fire this year' journo jokes yourself, so we'll spare you them.
The other major mod to Garate's bike is the super-setback Ritchey WCS seatpost, as also used by Garate's team-mate Chris Horner. Scott's CR1 has a relatively steep seat tube, especially in the smaller sizes (74.5 degrees and 74 degrees in S and M respectively. Clearly Horner and Garate feel the need to get further behind the pedals than is possible with a standard 25mm setback post, hence the 45mm setback of the new Ritchey.
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To tech-editorialise for a moment, we can't help but wish that Scott would offer an alternative version of the CR1 with the shallower angles and longer top tube of a more traditional stage race geometry. That's not to say that the CR1 isn't a terrific bike - we liked it a lot when we reviewed it last year. But steep, quick and eager isn't the only game in town, and that Saunier Duval riders are resorting to seat posts with lots of setback strongly implies there's a role for a bike that's more old school in its layout, with the weight advantage of the CR1 construction.
Speaking of weight, Garate also keeps the weight of his CR1 down with a pair of all-carbon Fulcrum wheels. We can't find these in the Fulcrum catalog, and they look suspiciously like Campagnolo Hyperons with Fulcrum decals. Hardly surprising, as Fulcrum is Campagnolo in disguise.
Images by Anthony Tan/www.cyclingnews.com