Bikes in the Luxembourg Prologue

[royalpig180]

I was looking at the pictures from today's Tour of Luxembourg prologue, and I noticed that none of the riders who were pictured were riding TT bikes. Some of them had aerobars clipped to their normal handlebars, but that was it.

Why did they do this? Was there a rule against using TT bikes?

 

[Michele]

It should have been a prologue with a climb so not much use for a TT bike.

Someone perhaps can help with some graphic of the route.

 

[royalpig180]

Someone perhaps can help with some graphic of the route.

Erm i found this profile for the prologue on the official site of the race.
It looks to me to be flat enough to use a TT bike, with just one small climb at the end, and a teeny climb at that.

 

[Ashtabula]

Given how dark, steep, and cobbly the very short route is, I'm not surprised. Of the three riders pictured, Jimmy Engoulvent, LA, and Frank Schleck, only LA even has clip-ons.

 

[amp300]

Since there was no climb, I would guess that it might have had a lot of turns (possible tight) that would not bode well for a TT bike.

 

[Jamsque]

It's an extra expense for the teams to ship all of the riders' TT bikes to a race in addition to the road gear. For a small race like this with one super-short TT it just isn't worth it. It happens at other races too, for example some of the less well funded teams ride the Tour of Qatar TTT with road bikes every year.

 

[Beech Mtn]

Given how dark, steep, and cobbly the very short route is, I'm not surprised. Of the three riders pictured, Jimmy Engoulvent, LA, and Frank Schleck, only LA even has clip-ons.

It also appears that LA is the only one wearing tinted shades for the evening prologue. I guess he didn't want people taking pictures of his eye injury. Frank Schleck and Jimmy Engoulvent don't even have the eye shield on their helmets, but LA's does, despite the pictures looking like he's riding in the dark.

 

[royalpig180]

Frank Schleck and Jimmy Engoulvent don't even have the eye shield on their helmets, but LA's does, despite the pictures looking like he's riding in the dark.

I'm pretty sure that's just a bad exposure with the flash on that picture making it look like it's dark.

Based on the other pictures, I'm pretty sure it was still light out when Armstrong rode.

 

[tgsgirl]

7 til 9 pm in Luxembourg, yeah it shouldn't be that dark. Or dark at all.