Tour de France 2023 - Stage 3: Amorebieta-Etxano - Bayonne | 187.4 kilometres
The hilly stage has no topographical difficulties worth mentioning. On paper, it is therefore a stage that will end with a bunch sprint. As there are not many sprint stages in this year's Tour de France, the sprinters' teams will try their hardest to control the action.
We therefore simulate a sprint in which the sprinter leaves the slipstream of the rider 300 metres before the finish and rides a long sprint from the front. As on the previous day, this final requires good aerodynamics as well as fast legs in order to come out on top at the end.
Number of the day: 29 hundredths of a second
Is the calculated lead of the fastest bikes in the field over the slowest in the 300 metre sprint. This corresponds to more than two bike lengths.
The fastest bikes in this final are the Canyon Aeroad and the Cevelo S5, with others following very close behind. Assuming the sprinters are riding aero bikes, the material will hardly be the deciding factor for the day's victory. On a less aerodynamic bike, however, it will be difficult to keep up. The rider could best compensate for an aero disadvantage by keeping the sprint short and leaving the slipstream very late.
In a sprint, the aerodynamics of the rider are more important than those of the bike, as the rider's body accounts for the lion's share of the air resistance. Sprinters therefore wear aero onesies, aero helmets, aero socks and so on. Sprinters also train to duck as low as possible over the bike when sprinting. Mark Cavendish was the pioneer of this technique. He was the first sprinter to pull out all the aero stops and celebrated many successes with it.
The (almost) entire field at a glance
*) The calculations are based on the bikes tested by TOUR in the laboratory and wind tunnel. The bikes at the Tour de France may differ in some details. Of course, we have not yet been able to analyse last-minute prototypes. Background to the simulation.
Our expert
Robert Kühnen studied mechanical engineering, writes about technical and training topics for TOUR and develops test methods. Robert has been refining the simulation calculations for years and they are also used by professional teams.
