Marco Pantani threw his body behind hitting the abdomen to the back of the armchair. Chris Froome opts to throw all the weight of the body forward taking off from the armchair and shrinking the body. Vincenzo Níbali lowers his back without getting up from the armchair and puts his chin on the steering pipe. And Peter Sagan tries to align his body with the horizontal tube of the painting.
They are different positions that these (and others) large rollers usually perform on the bicycle to acquire U
na position more aerodynamics when they try to attack in the descent of a mountain port. The goal is to advance more meters with less effort and win its rivals with it. But what position is the best?
Bert Blocken, professor at the Technological University of Eindhoven, has published with other scientists
A study compared six different descent techniques To find out which of all that provides a greater aerodynamic advantage.
[embed] https://youtu.be/4Z59bvf_0hc?t=58s[/embed]
Professor Blocket and his colleagues were inspired by
The brutal descent that Chris Froome starred during the eighth stage of the 2016 France Tour. The British launched at full speed by the Pereysourde pedaling with a very high pace while hitting his body to the bicycle handlebar.
Froome's victory at that stage motivated other cyclists to imitate him later. However, according to the study of the University of Eindhoven Froome he chose badly. The analysis carried out both in computer simulations and in the wind tunnel show that
he Froome style It is actually slower than other runners such as Níbali, Pantani or Sagan.
The position called
Top Tube Safe, adopted by Peter Sagan in the descent of Col d'Eze in 2014, it is the most efficient. According to Professor Blocken,
Sagan supports the trunk in the horizontal tube of the painting, with what the body's weight is more homogeneously distributed over the two wheels. This facilitates pedaling and provides greater curves safety.
[embed] https://youtu.be/zr3qozwmkok[/embed]
Specifically
With Peter Sagan's position you get 17% faster, while the advantage of the Froome method is 9%.
However, the fastest aerodynamic posture award for bicycle is not for Sagan, neither for the British, nor for Pantani nor for the style
Back Down of Níbali.
The fastest figure is the so -called Superman position, which consists of taking off the feet of the pedals and stretching the body in a totally horizontal way. Of course, it is also the most unstable, especially when taking a curve.
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Results of computer simulations and wind tunnel. Source: Bert Blocken (LinkedIn)[/caption]
