Gone Too Far?

By Cor Vos on March 11, 2013

Michele Acquarone of RCS Sport admitted on twitter that Tirreno-Adriatico stage 6 went a little too far. Acquarone said, "@petosagan and @VincenzoNibali shone in a legendary stage. Many of you enjoyed it, but it was too much. We lost the right balance. #Tirreno" The 209-kilometer route around Porto Sant’Elpidio, Italy, featured three ascents of the 27-percent, 375-meter Sant’Elpidio a Mare climb where riders had to get off their bikes and walk. Shown here, Martin Velits, Stijn Devolder, and Jens Mouris. Peter Sagan won the stage.

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Beautiful sunrise bike ride. #out_riding_around #outsideisfree

ozren0

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jules

i don’t get it. why didn’t they just fit lower ratio gears?
- http://twitter.com/hmoffatt Hamish Moffatt
  
  50/28 is the lowest ratio readily available on Shimano and it’s still not going to be easy getting up a 27% gradient three times. I don’t think they’re going to all change to triple cranksets for one day.
  - jules
    
    i set my gearing up especially for big mountain rides, like the Alpine Classic. you’d think pro teams would be able to afford new cranks..
  - Pete
    
    50t ring is the smallest for the big ring. They’re definitely not climbing that hill in the big ring… Not even the first time around let alone the 3rd time around.
    - http://twitter.com/hmoffatt Hamish Moffatt
      
      You’re right, I meant 34/28. Doesn’t change my point though.
      - Michael
        
        Seriously mate; you can run lower than 34/28 without the need to go to a triple. You haven’t heard of compact cranks? You haven’t heard of SRAM wifi? You can even run 34/32. And yes, the pros WILL run such ratios “just for one day”. Cobo rode a 34/32 setup the year he won the Vuelta [2011] when he was riding the Angliru. Nibali rode 34/29 that day. See – 34/28 isn’t the lowest ratio.
        
        http://twitter.com/hmoffatt Hamish Moffatt
        
        Hey “mate”, I said Shimano. They have 30 tooth cassettes and RDs but only in 105. And 34 IS compact. (And compact is meaningless on Dura Ace 9000.)
JD

Holy crap. Arden street roundabout to Allison Rd is about 300 metres with an average of about 16%, peaking at about 22% I think. And that’s a lung burster. Almost double the incline here. Ouch. What makes it worse are all the punters on the sides laughiong and taking pictures. :-(
WombatJones

Compact crank anybody?
WombatJones

Compact crank anybody?

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Gone Too Far?

By Cor Vos on March 11, 2013

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