Nocentini In Yellow!

As the Tour starts to head north the race not only changes course direction but it also changes the focus of the riders. The first week has been a battle for the strong and powerful with the coastal winds and the different time trials. Now we have three days of mountains but it’s the first mountain day on stage 7 that everyone is paying close attention to. Stage 7, to the summit finish in Andorra Arcalis, is the first test for the climbers and the only mountain top finish for the climbers. Stage 8 and Stage 9 have big climbs but each of these all contain long down hills to the finish after the last summit.

The capabilities of AG2R’s new BH G5 will be put to the test. A true performance gauge of a bike is one that can satisfy the power hunger sprinters or roulers (workers) while keeping the weight light enough to satisfy the climbers. Stephane Goubert, the oldest rider on the team, feels like he has some of the best equipment to compete with the others. “The oversized tubes really make a difference, the bottom bracket is very solid and this provides a good rhythm when climbing.” Goubert on Stage 7 put in a tough days work and the team’s solid performance in the TTT paid off in yellow for AG2R.

A small group escaped from the bunch and built up a lead of almost twelve minutes. In it were two riders from AG2R, Nocentini and Riblon. Nocentini rode smart and knew what was on the line, he needed 3’ 13” to take the lead and he was the best placed rider in the front group. As Cancellera couldn’t follow the pace with the main bunch of climbers, on the last climb, the break looked more and more to succeed. Nocentini knew the Armstrong group was coming quick but at the finish it was Nocentini who would become the new leader of the Tour de France.

As much as climbing the big mountains fast is important descending them means the riders go even faster. “The descents of the Tour de France are very fast but they have lots of turns. The handling of the bike is important and the new G5 really makes me feel comfortable,” Nocentini commented. On the descent the ability for the bike to carve turns and handle hard braking relies a lot on the front fork. The G5 uses an all carbon fork made by Edge composites. It delivers a sturdy safe feeling under hard braking which allows the riders to keep control and set up their turns in the best possible manner. Many times a rider can be a great climber and horrible on the descent, there is nothing worse than watching someone make if in the front group going uphill but then lose time going downhill. With Nocentini’s experience, and his comfort level with the G5, he showed he doesn’t have problems with either discipline. This paid off handsomely with a well planned attack to make the break and an even stronger performance to hold off the charging peloton to the top of the climb to take yellow. At the finish the brightest jersey of the day was on the brightest smile of the day and they both belonged to Rinaldo Nocentini.

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

Some more details on the G5

Here are some teaser CAD drawings of the G5, showing a little more info than what we have put out so far. Stay tuned for more during the next 2 weeks.

The last time the Tour started with a time trial, instead of a prologue or road race stage, was in 2005 when David Zabriskie won the opening TT. The Tour’s opening TT was a 15km challenging road route that combines climbing skills, descending skills, and a lot of anaerobic power. This suits well for many of the riders on AG2R as none are really prologue specialists but all are aggressive road riders with a combination of great climbing and descending skills.

Despite the technical course, and the long uphill, the AG2R riders took the decision to race on their Aero BH time trial bikes. The geometry of the BH time trial bikes provide road like handling while keeping the aerodynamic advantages necessary for this specific event. Nicolas Roche started off with the old time trial bike back in April and stated that he didn’t have any problems. “Last year’s model was pretty good already but the new one is a step better.” This step becoming better took place partly because of the UCI rules and their enforcement of the 3:1 ratio for tubes and parts. In speaking with one of the mechanics he explained, “The bike has some design changes and it’s mostly in the rear triangle and the down tube. In order to comply with UCI the down tube had to be changed so BH decided to make everything better.” BH also redesigned the rear triangle giving a bigger cut out in the seat tube for the rear wheel to sit closer to the seat tube. These design changes resulted in a stiffer rear triangle for a greater transfer of power to the wheels.

Even with the tough uphill section of the TT the aerodynamic advantages of the TT bike were beneficial to the riders. “You have to use a bit of strength with the TT bike and the TT wheels, they are a bit heavier. Altogether with the flat piece, and my good position on the bike, this will count a lot to going faster,” commented Roche. Nicholas started 112th in the time trial stage and perhaps had a bit tougher ride then some of the later riders. The bright sun and humidity made it tough for the early riders and it wasn’t until late in the start order when the heat started to dissipate. The high heat and humidity causes a lot of excess stress on the athletes including elevated heart rates.

Riding his first Tour de France stage Nicholas Roche finished in 43rd place only 1’ 27” down on the winner Fabian Cancellera. It was a good ride by the Irish national road champion and he looks forward to the next stages. The next chance the riders will be able to test the BH Aero TT bike will be during the Stage 4 TTT. This event will have all nine riders working cohesively as one unit flying down the road inches from each other wheels. It’s a race of strength and speed and as Roche put it, “The main thing is that the new bike is stiffer and faster.” How fast they go will not only be up to Nicholas Roche but up to the entire team.

The Day Before The Tour, An Inside Look At AG2R and BH

The months leading up to the Tour de France have vanished quickly. On Saturday July 4th the Tour will launch its 96th run from the Principality of Monaco to the finish in Paris twenty-one days later. On the start line will be 20 of the world’s best cycling teams looking to leave their imprint on this year’s race. It will be a race of athletes and their equipment, against the mountains, coastal winds, weather, and the clock.

If last year is any indication of success then Pro Tour team AG2R should have confidence leading into the start in Monaco. With two stage wins in the 2008 Tour de France AG2R have built a team to continue to build on that success. Cyril Dessel and Vladimir Efimikn, both stage winners from the 08 Tour, have returned to the squad to lead their team. Adding support in the mountains are past Vuelta stage winner Jose Arrieta and the experienced Stephane Goubert. Last year on the critical mountain stage to Alp d’ Huez, when Carlos Sastre escaped for the win, Goubert was the rider that set tempo to prevent Sastre from taking even more time.

Also joining the squad is the current Irish National Road Champion Nicolas Roche who will participate in his first Tour de France. Lloyd Montgomery, Rinaldo Nocentini, Hubert Dupont, and Christoph Riblon will fill in the remainder of the spots. Riblon was never on a tentative list for the AG2R Tour de France roster but his good form at the right time secured the last and final TDF spot.

In 2008 the riders secured two TDF stage wins riding their BH G4 bicycles. The riders applauded the strength, handling and responsiveness of the G4. For BH the team’s success only fueled their desire to continue to build high end bikes using the latest advantageous technology available. This has led to the introduction of the BH G5, at the Tour de France, which wipes away the old standard of excellence. The new G5 is lighter, stiffer, compliant, and more responsive than any other BH model ever made. It’s almost a list of contradictory terms but the G5 manages to take these separate positive characteristics and combine them into one desirable racing machine. Prototypes hit the rider’s bottoms just before the Dauphine with Jose Arrieta receiving the first one. After an ample number of training and racing days were completed Jose was supposed to return the bike for analysis and possible modifications. A small wrench in BH’s plans was the fact that Jose loved the bike so much that he didn’t want to return the G5 but insisted on using it for the rest of the races leading up the TDF.

The changes to the bike are prominent, precise, and calculated. You can pull up the brochure and read about the increased stiffness of the bottom bracket, the larger head tube size, and carbon drop outs to understand the numbers. What I set out to do over the next few weeks is to explain the feeling the AG2R riders get from the BH G5 under the highest, intense, racing possible. It will be a look into the team, their expectations, tribulations and adventures on the new G5 from Monaco to Paris.