All 18 WorldTour teams and six Pro Continental teams were parked up alongside the Scheldt river in Antwerp, Belgium, for the start of the 103rd Tour of Flanders on Sunday.
As you might expect, the traditional cobbled tech of wider tyres and double-wrapped handlebar tape was on display, but there was also plenty of new tech making its debut at the historic race.
Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) – who finished third at the race – was the only rider on the start line to race with a tubeless tyre setup as opposed to the traditional tubular options.
ADVERTISEMENT
Kristoff used Vittoria Graphene 2.0 tubeless tyres with Campagnolo Bora WTO 60 wheels, and a UAE Team Emirates spokesman explained to Cyclingnews that Kristoff simply has a better feeling with the tubeless setup over tubular tyres.
Kristoff used the same setup on his way to victory at last week's Gent-Wevelgem and Cyclingnews understands from some key stakeholders in the sport that as more manufacturers experiment with the technology, tubeless tyres could become the norm in the WorldTour peloton as opposed to the exception.
More technology seen for the first time at this year's race was the prevalence of 12-speed. Campagnolo launched their 12-speed groupset last year and SRAM followed up with their version earlier this year, and five teams lined up in Antwerp with the new groupsets.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tour-of-flanders-huge-race-tech-gallery
No comments:
Post a Comment