Tour de France 2023 - Stage 16: Passy - Combloux | 22.4 Kilometres (ITT)
The only time trial of this year’s Tour de France is coming up. And it’s special, as is the rest of the Tour, especially in terms of the route. In the first section, the course has a short ramp, but then it’s slightly downhill and fast until it climbs steeply up the mountain from kilometer 16, 2.5 kilometres at 9.4%. Further on, the course is briefly flat and then continues to climb at 5.6 and 5.9% (Average: 4.7%).
So it’s a combination of flat time trial and mountain time trial, as we saw last time in the Giro d’Italia. Unlike the course at the Giro, however, the steep section is shorter and not super steep. Therefore, the question for the teams is: bike change? Yes or no? Without question, the time trial bike is the faster bike until the entrance to the steep section. The change to another bike costs at least 10 seconds, but can also take 15 or 20 seconds. Can that be done with a light bike?
Or do you mount a time trial clip on the road racer and save the bike change? We don’t have as hard data on time trial bikes as we do on road bikes, and we have to work with estimates to answer the question of which setup is fastest under the conditions mentioned. As before, we model the track in detail and let our digital pro ride the different configurations and compete against each other.
We use 15 different time trial bikes with different weights and aerodynamic qualities. TT 10 to 12 seems to us the most likely configuration. Under these conditions, the TT bike is clearly faster than a road bike with clip-ons on stage 16 of the Tour de France 2023.
Number of the day: 1:11 minutes
The simulation shows that a TT bike (configuration TT 11) is 1:11 minutes faster than Tadej Pogacar’s road bike accelerated with clip-ons. Time trial bike (TT) or road bike? An overview of the calculated ride times without changing the bike - the arrow marks the most probable configuration from our point of view:
Would a bike change make a difference?
We simulate a bike change at the beginning of the steep climb. Result: Tadej Pogacar would lose at least 20 seconds in total (10 seconds change time calculated) - all this under the premise that he has a comparable pedaling performance on the TT bike as on his road bike.
*) 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 details. Of course, we have not yet been able to examine last-minute prototypes either.
Our Expert
Robert Kühnen studied mechanical engineering, writes for TOUR about technology and training topics and develops testing methods. Robert has been refining the simulation calculations for years, they are also used by professional teams.
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