Whereas Opening Weekend might take the eye of the biking world away from the UAE Tour, there’s a hyperlink between the desert racing and the Spring Classics, and from a tech viewpoint it all the time comes again to tyres.
On stage 5 of the UAE Tour, Lotto Dstny’s Thomas De Gendt blew his tyre out, seemingly out of nowhere, particularly given the reliably easy nature of the roads used within the UAE Tour.
Credit score the place it is due, the splendidly nerdy Ronan McLaughlin of Escape Collective penned an article outlining why he thinks the incident occurred, specifically a mix of a rim that’s too extensive to securely accommodate a 28c tyre, given the edges hookless building. The Zipp 353NSW wheels that De Gendt was utilizing function an inside width of 25mm, which based on the ISO requirements is really helpful just for tyres of 29mm and above.
Whereas the riders at opening weekend have been tending to make use of the narrower inside 454NSW wheels, and wider 30mm Vittoria Corsa Professional tyres, it was nonetheless a speaking level with the workforce mechanics, who remained bullish about their technique and setup.
Firstly, we requested if inserts would nonetheless be used:
“We have finished it from day one, with a former model additionally; we all the time use inserts. I definitely imagine you get a lack of 1.0 or 1.1 Watts, however we do it for the safety of the riders. When you have a hookless rim and a tubeless tyre and also you get an immediate flat it goes off like nothing. Think about if a rider takes a descent and the tyre goes off… they could possibly be lifeless.”
Whereas photographs of De Gendt’s bike following his crash present the tyre completely off the rim, inserts out on present too, the mechanics stay dedicated to the insert technique, and in addition keep that the groups setup is totally UCI compliant, even when confronted with strategies that the tyre was too slender for the edges:
“We use, obliged by the UCI, 28mm tyres on a 23mm or 25mm inside rim. That’s based on all prescriptions by the UCI, from Zipp, and from Vittoria, so for certain we’re 100% within the guidelines.”
We have now approached each Zipp and Vittoria for clarification, however for now the mechanics are placing it all the way down to a freak accident, and are persevering with their gear methods unabated.
