Survey: increasingly larger gears to drive faster

The dramatic rise in average speeds in top-level cycling is partly due to an increase in gear ratios demanded by riders and made available by equipment manufacturers. Where will they stop?

About Guillaume Judas – Photo: ©3bikes.fr

In just over forty years, high-end bicycles as used by professional racers have gone from six to twelve cogs on the rear wheel.. Still with two chainrings, which now theoretically offers around fifteen different ratios if we take into account the possible overlaps. Such a range of developments offered makes it possible to increase the versatility of use of the bikes, in both directions. If today's riders climb the passes with a higher pedaling cadence than before, they can also ride much faster downhill, on false flat descents or on the flat, thanks to large gears that were totally unimaginable at the end of the last century. Thanks to the 12-speed cassettes, we always have the right gear to meet the demands of the terrain, without having to compromise., the young retiree Philippe Gilbert recently told us. At the beginning of my career, mechanics still had to change the cassette on bikes depending on the route, but this has become almost unnecessary today. »

Always more

This increased versatility of modern transmissions is an argument put forward by the main equipment manufacturers, Shimano, Sram and Campagnolo in the lead.. " By launching our cassettes with a small 10-tooth sprocket in 2019, which was completely new at the time, our goal was to increase the development range of all riders, whatever their level., says Jason Fowler, category manager at Sram. With smaller sprockets and a smaller chainring torque, there is more difference between maximum and minimum gears, while reducing the gaps between each gear on the cassette. This is a benefit to the cyclist in general. »

But quickly, This solution of smaller chainrings (46, 48 or 50 teeth) did not appear satisfactory for professional riders equipped by the American brand, who requested more classic chainrings of 52, 54 and even 56 teeth. to maintain their pedaling habits, but while remaining equipped with a cassette with a small 10-tooth sprocket. The requests depend a little on each team and their preferred field of expression., continues Jason Fowler. At Movistar for example, we are often asked for the 52-39 combination for the chainrings and 10-33 for the cassette. At Lidl-Trek, it is rather 54-41 chainrings, except for Mads Pedersen, who often uses a 56! »

56/10: a development equivalent to a 62/11 or a 67/12. Connoisseurs will appreciate. " The chainring combination the pros choose isn't based on the maximum gear ratio they need, but rather on the gear ratio they're most comfortable with on the cassette., says John Cordoba, product manager for Specialized Roubaix and a strong advocate of the 10-tooth cassette. With a big chainring, they can use a large gear ratio while keeping the chain placed in the middle of the cassette, for better transmission efficiency. This is also what we see on time trial bikes with the use of 58, 60, or even 62 tooth chainrings, most often used with 13 and 14 tooth sprockets. But obviously, as soon as the course is downhill or the wind is pushing hard from behind, they do not hesitate to use their largest gear, and thus gain a lot of speed. "" With a big gear, riders realized they could ride fast in a pack more consistently, producing fewer power peaks that ultimately cost a lot of energy., precise Guillaume Girout, a former pro and CEO of the company Dagg, which imports and designs bicycles and cycling clothing. This allows them to save energy for the crucial phases of the race." Whether to create differences or to follow the general pace, the big gears seem to impose themselves on everyone, without knowing whether it is the elements or the riders who are at the origin..

Evolution of equipment and racing conditions

The use of these very large gears had already been initiated from the mid-2010s, before the arrival of 12-speed transmissions. " On some flat stages of the Tour de France, I sometimes have to use a big chainring of 54 or 55 teeth because it goes so fast., Tony Gallopin revealed to us in 2018, wearing the yellow jersey in the 2014 Tour de France. » « On the Tour, the speeds reached are incredible for multiple reasons., Yoann Offredo, former professional and now consultant for France Télévisions, told us. We ride most of the time on perfectly resurfaced asphalt, there are spectators almost everywhere on the course who provide some protection from the wind, and a lot of cars leading the way route. All this creates a kind of aspiration phenomenon, to which we can even add all the particular issues surrounding this event, which make it go faster. We must therefore adapt our gears. "" I have spent most of my career with a large 53 chainring, notes Kevin Reza, professional from 2011 to 2021. But after the first interruption due to Covid, in August 2020, I noticed a clear increase in general speed. I had to use a 55 chainring on the Tour de France that followed, and especially for the Champs-Elysées stage. "In addition to these special conditions, there are developments in equipment, which are increasingly efficient, with rigidity and aerodynamics, whether on the route or on the track. In response to riders' demands, Shimano has also replaced the usual 53-39 chainring combination with 54-40 when it released its latest high-end transmission group in 2021, chainrings used by many stars of the peloton such as Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, Tom Pidcock, Geraint Thomas or Julian Alaphilippe, while Tadej Pogacar prefers a 55-tooth.

« On the track, there was a milestone in gear ratios after the London Olympics in 2012., says Mathieu Jeanne, national paracycling coach. Riders have gradually put on bigger and bigger gears thanks to the aerodynamic gains of the bikes, but also because it was within their physical capabilities. Within most of the delegations of the major cycling nations, we now profile the athletes, and for many of them, we have realized that they produce more power with bigger gears. In pursuit, for example, we now look for an average pedaling cadence of 103 to 105 rpm, whereas previously we were above 110, or even 120 for Philippe Ermenault, world champion in 1997 and 1998, and Olympic champion in team pursuit in 1996. Today, his son Corentin, whom I train, uses gears of 63 to 69/15 depending on the velodromes in individual pursuit, and 63 to 69/14 in team pursuit. Even if the speeds are slightly lower, we are in the same vein with disabled athletes, depending on their disability of course. To be able to carry such gears, the riders do a lot of maximum strength training, even in the so-called endurance categories. This allows them to better launch their big gear at the start »

Riders gradually put on bigger and bigger ones thanks to the aerodynamic gains of the bikes, but also because it was within their physical capabilities. – Mathieu Jeanne, national paracycling coach

Psychological barriers falling

For Jean-François Guiborel, coach and ambassador of the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome and a keen observer of track cycling for nearly 50 years, the evolution took place at the beginning of the 2000s, at least for the sprinters. : " Florian Rousseau, with several world and Olympic titles at the end of the 90s, was already using a slightly bigger gear than at the time of Trentin/Morelon in the 60s and 70s. But training methods have evolved, and sprinters have started to do a lot of weight training, before endurance riders. In a few years, psychological barriers have fallen. When I started, we remained fixed on the fact that on the track, we had to work on speed, and only on speed. Eddy Merckx and his ilk were content with 52/16 on the Six Days, well below their capacities in reality, whereas today riders ride with a gear around 60/15 on the American or Points Race. At 70 myself, I'm doing times in training that make me want to run in the Masters, with 52/15, which is bigger than what I used in the French team at the age of 20. Even among the amateurs of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, we do like the high level. Some have progressed a lot, but others have eyes bigger than their stomachs. Not everyone has the capacity to take such big gears, or in any case there is a happy medium to be found. »

This progression of gears is not only found among mature cyclists.. In France, developments have no longer been limited to Cadets (U17) since the beginning of 2022, a decision taken well after other countries, to adapt to the demands of modern cycling. Human body can work harder than previously thought, discovered, continues Jean-François Guiborel. But you still have to be careful with young people, when they are still growing. I see kids who take the path of being diesels their entire career, by always putting too big gears and forgetting to work on speed in addition. Which is not the case for riders who practice as well route, than the track, or than cyclo-cross, and who are therefore used to riding at high cadences, while specifically working on strength alongside of course. »

Psychological barriers removed, more modern training methods, more athletic riders and more efficient equipment seem to explain the increase in gears in recent years, both at the highest level and among aspiring champions.. How far? This increase in gears will stop when the speeds aretagwill, therefore, when we have reached the limits of human and material evolutions, concludes Mathieu Jeanne. If we are to believe the records that keep falling, it is apparently not going to happen any time soon."

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