Making A Mark

With the temperatures soaring, the first few Tour stages have included the added stress of extreme heat to the already difficult racing. For many rider’s it’s been thoughts of just making it to the finish, for others its thoughts of making a mark on the race.

On stage one the brown and blue diamond uniform of AG2R cut its way to the front with Cyril Dessel. Away in a break for most of the day, Dessel set up the move with his new G5 on the first climb of the day. The new frame weighs in at 810g and this lightweight platform is great for the acceleration needed to respond to the moves on the climb. It was on the first climb up the Turbie, out of Monaco, where Dessel made his move.

The G5’s stiffness comes, in part, from the cable channels underneath the down tube. Instead of running along the outside of the underside of the down tube they are tucked in to the new carved out channel. This provides a cleaner look and increases the stiffness. “The bike is much more rigid, I can really feel the difference in the rear triangle and the front,” stated Dessel.

Dessel finished 102nd on the stage but it’s his aggression on the stage that sent a message to the peloton that AG2R was ready for the Tour de France. In the chaotic final sprint, that included a crash about 500m from the line, Nicholas Roche maneuvered into 8th place on the day while Lloyd Mondory finished in 10th. “The new G5 is so much more rigid, for me who likes to sprint this is a big plus. The bike is very rapid and very good,” stated Mondory. Mondory only cares about one thing and that is performance, “I’m not concerned with comfort, I want a strong and stiff bike that can take my power. The new G5 delivers that.”

To bring the rigidity up to par to what the sprinters want the G5 changed their head tube to taper from 1 1/8 inch to 1 ½ inch. This made a big difference for the riders. As Nocentini put it, “When I pull on the bars hard the front part doesn’t move. I feel like I have more punch and the bike is lighter which helps a lot.” The riders do notice the large size diameter of the tubes which helps the aggressiveness of the bike.

The next real test the AG2R riders had to pass was the very curvy and windy 39km TTT. The team rode in formation and stayed off the ground which is much better than what many of the other teams could accomplish. This TTT course was anything but typical with narrow roads, lots of turns and a cross wind that could knock most of us off the wheels in front of us. Finishing in 9th place the team was only 26 seconds from sixth place. It was a strong showing by the French team and immediately after the finish Stephane Goubert was pulled aside to go live with French television for a long interview about their strong performance. The winners on the day were team Astana with arguably 4 of the worlds best time trialists on their squad.

Now the race continues westward along the coast where the winds will continue to whip their fury on the peloton. The peloton made a mistake on stage 3 by relaxing to much and this time they will have to pay close attention that the splits don’t occur again. Luckily for AG2R they are one of the stronger teams here and their intentions will not be to just sit in and survive.
-Frankie