do they change gear ratios

[TigerFish]

Do the pros change bikes with different gear ratios depending on the stage? Do they use cassettes with bigger sprockets during the hill stages?

 

[redtreviso]

Do the pros change bikes with different gear ratios depending on the stage? Do they use cassettes with bigger sprockets during the hill stages?

huh? and yes

 

[flicker]

huh? and yes

Except for Jens and Vino. There high gearing can never be hard enough.

 

[theswordsman]

I imagine guys will be riding something special on the Bola del Mundo stage. If you listen to Eurosport UK coverage (links at steephill.tv) for the serious mountain stages, David and Sean discuss tech questions in detail.

 

[brianf7]

They have heaps of wheels with 11 and 10 speed sprockets of all different ratios.
Some like low gears on hills and some like big gears and big cranks they all need an 11 sprocket to hang on in a sprint at 80 kmh +

 

[theswordsman]

A fresh tweet from Nichoilas Roche:

@nicholasroche

Putting a 28 rear sproket today for ultimate climb! Apparently its realy nasty!! Good luck nico! 4 minutes ago via TweetDeck

 

[icefire]

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/05/road/gearing-for-monte-zoncolan_118163

I don't recall where I read that some pros used a triple chainring in the Angliru