Why were Sky so overgeared on the Angliru?

[benlondon]

Dave Brailsford's catch phrase is “The aggregation of marginal gains”. So why were Wiggins & Froome completely overgeared on the Angliru. After all the Vuelta has gone up the climb several times before so they should know what gears to fit. Watching them on the steepest section was painful to watch! Seems like a schoolboy error to me that could easily have cost them both up to 30 seconds. As Chris Boardman tweeted 'Looks like 34X32 was a good choice then. 900m to go for Cobo'.

 

[euanli]

Because ultimately gearing is a personal choice?

 

[Winterfold]

Wiggins uses those ovoid chainrings which are only available in 130BCD - so no compact available.

that is a (dumb) reason for not changing. he could have changed the whole crankset as i doubt he earned much of a marginal gain from the ovoid rings on the flat sections - but maybe they feel so different its not an easy switch.

When Dave Millar (who also uses ovoid chainrings) rode Zoncolan he used a 11-36 MTB cassette and a long travel MTB mech. But he's SRAM - so not electronic.

I doubt they could have got a XTR mountain bike cassette and mech to work with Di2 electronic gears.

So Wiggo - clearly the rider of the GC contenders who MOST needs a high cadence and to use his white muscle groups was left overgeared. And maybe the red jersey was lost as a result

Bummer - all pretty easy to predict. I run 34:29 as we have lots of 20% ramps on my favourite rides and I could have told DB 38:32 was not going to be enough.

 

[hrotha]

On top of what Winterfold explained, it should be said that they were NOT overgeared. Their gears were similar or identical to the gears chosen by most of the peloton and probably by all contenders bar Cobo.

 

[benlondon]

Well maybe Cobo was the only one who got it right!

For sure they were overgeared. It is completely inefficient and exhausting to be zigzagging up a road at a cadence of under 50. It's an astonishing bit of collective stupidity (or new kit getting in the way of common sense). Similar to when nobody fitted clip-on tri bars to their bikes in the Giro mountain time trial despite the flat section at the start (also commented on by C Boardman at the time)

 

[max_powers]

As ridiculous as it would be, build a 'mountain' road bike and switch from the oval bikes b4 the ridiculous climb the organizers include.

 

[180mmCrank]

Do we actually know what gearing they were on? AS others have said gearing is essentially a personal choice. I am sure if they had wanted a different set up they could have sorted it out.

The fact is they were both struggling - Wiggins especially - and when you are running out of gas you always 'look' over geared.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Do we actually know what gearing they were on? AS others have said gearing is essentially a personal choice. I am sure if they had wanted a different set up they could have sorted it out.

The fact is they were both struggling - Wiggins especially - and when you are running out of gas you always 'look' over geared.

Yes we do. The information was spread by Pro Cycling so..
Wiggins 38x32, Froome 36x28, Mollema 36x28, Poels 34x28, Cobo 34x32

Not suprising the guys with an 34 front chainring did best

 

[Race Radio]

Cobo 34×32 (28.3-inch);
Nibali 34×29 (31.2-inch);
Froome and Wiggins 38×32 (31.6-inch);
Kessiakoff 34×28 (32.3-inch);
Fuglsang and Mollema 36×28 (34.2-inch);

 

[Benotti69]

As ridiculous as it would be, build a 'mountain' road bike and switch from the oval bikes b4 the ridiculous climb the organizers include.

worked for Contador during the Giro. I am sure a small team like TeamSky could have begged another Dogma and geared it for the Angliru and had someone waiting at the bottom for a quick change over.

Cobo and Nibali seem to have their brake levers adjusted higher too for better/more comfortable climbing.

But TeamSky being a small team will learn all these things as they grow

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Because ultimately gearing is a personal choice?

this, it's not as if sky or any team can go to a rider and say yeah we know you want these gears but we decided you should have these and we decide

still they weren;t overgeared. they had pretty much same gears as other contenders. in the real world wiggins just isn't a climber. learn to get used to it

 

[euanli]

This thread is as stupid as whatever the last Cavendish thread was. Lets not forget the a 38T oval chainring does not equal a 38T round chainring so a direct comparison is moot. I've never ridden them or Rotor Q Rings so I don't know how they would compare.

Whatever it comes down to Wiggins and Froome just didn't have the ability to go over the steep sections without going into the red. They suffered as we expected them to.

 

[hatcher]

this, it's not as if sky or any team can go to a rider and say yeah we know you want these gears but we decided you should have these and we decide

still they weren;t overgeared. they had pretty much same gears as other contenders. in the real world wiggins just isn't a climber. learn to get used to it

Rodriguez. Proper climber? Duarte?

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

Lets not forget the a 38T oval chainring does not equal a 38T round chainring so a direct comparison is moot. I've never ridden them or Rotor Q Rings so I don't know how they would compare.

They are not equal? The both have 38 teeth. With the same rear cog, every revolution of the cranks sends the rider the same distance and the same number of vertical meters up the climb. Two riders, one using round rings and the other using Bio Pace reborn, will be pedaling at the same cadence to go the same speed. Any difference between the two is extremely small.

 

[Boeing]

Dave Brailsford's catch phrase is “The aggregation of marginal gains”. So why were Wiggins & Froome completely overgeared on the Angliru. After all the Vuelta has gone up the climb several times before so they should know what gears to fit. Watching them on the steepest section was painful to watch! Seems like a schoolboy error to me that could easily have cost them both up to 30 seconds. As Chris Boardman tweeted 'Looks like 34X32 was a good choice then. 900m to go for Cobo'.

If it wasn't in the manual sorted at the start of the season then Brainsford would have missed it. But he is proactive for 2012 and will add it for the next issue.

 

[hfer07]

aside from the complexity of whether or nor functions fitting a 32 sprocket with an oval crank set and all the mechanical dilemmas - everything comes down to the simplest and most universal principle in cycling: Is always better to be "under geared" than "over geared"

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Rodriguez. Proper climber? Duarte?

clearly those are out of shape, besides rodriguez usually sucks on longer climbs. he's not made for the higher mountains overall as he's way too inconsistant there

duarte, has not raced 1 day before vuelta and only had 3 weeks of training prior to vuelta start

 

[Winterfold]

Ryo - you've got to get over your one eye on this. Wiggo has learned to dish it out to everyone on climbs into double figures now except possibly Contador and Schleck. He can climb.

But not on 23% with 38:32 when someone at least as strong is on 34:32

On 23% even 34:29 would be a grind (well it is for me) and having another lower option seems pretty straightforward, especially for Wiggins who's physiology clearly seems to favour high cadence and smooth pedalling.

 

[luckyboy]

Possibly Contador and Schleck?

 

[Duartista]

Interestingly, Cobo said that he was badly overgeared today. He had a 26 on the back and needed a 28 - so much for knowing one of his local climbs!

http://www.cyclismactu.net/news-vuelta-cobo-ne-s-attendait-pas-a-que-ce-soit-si-dur-19055.html

 

[luckyboy]

hrotha said that he had never ridden the climb before today.

 

[Forunculo]

Interestingly, Cobo said that he was badly overgeared today. He had a 26 on the back and needed a 28 - so much for knowing one of his local climbs!

http://www.cyclismactu.net/news-vuelta-cobo-ne-s-attendait-pas-a-que-ce-soit-si-dur-19055.html

He told he regret he didn't know Peña Cabarga in spite of is 50 km from his house

 

[hatcher]

Possibly Contador and Schleck?

That was likely a stretching of the point, but it's still less absurd than the notion that the Angliru proved Wiggins can't climb.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

That was likely a stretching of the point, but it's still less absurd than the notion that the Angliru proved Wiggins can't climb.

wiggins isn;t a climber is something else than wiggins can't climb.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Ryo - you've got to get over your one eye on this. Wiggo has learned to dish it out to everyone on climbs into double figures now except possibly Contador and Schleck. He can climb.

But not on 23% with 38:32 when someone at least as strong is on 34:32

On 23% even 34:29 would be a grind (well it is for me) and having another lower option seems pretty straightforward, especially for Wiggins who's physiology clearly seems to favour high cadence and smooth pedalling.

We saw Wiggins awesome climbing on Pena Cabarga.

I hate to break it to you but Wiggins always falters on the more serious climbs. We saw that on the Allevard in the Dauphine too. The other tempo climbs this Vuelta were perfect for him, and even more so because they didn't have 2/3 mountains in front of them.

Wiggins is still too weak in serious multi-mountain stages or actual steep mountains. Not the mention he loses a bit too much time on steep short hill finishes as well...