How a Gust of Wind May Have Changed Cycling Forever.

by Matt Bryan

Chris Froome on a Dauphiné recon minutes before a crash that put him in hospital. Teammate Wout Poels forebodingly saying, “You don’t have to take risks Chris” and he removes a rain jacket mid-ride. [ITV News].

Wind: the nemesis of many a cyclist. A headwind is the petulant hand that pushes you back the way you came, reducing a healthy pace to a crawl, and all for the same effort. Instead of arriving somewhere on time and slightly out of breath, you turn up twenty minutes late and deprived of any energy or will to do anything. A crosswind causes a bike to weave across the road and serves only to push a rider into a ditch or oncoming traffic, or lean into the wind like a racing yacht. The only silver lining is the rare occasion that the gust is at your back, and a tailwind is one of the few pleasures in a cyclist’s life; the feeling of smooth, effortless speed rights the wrongs of miserable weather and potholed roads, that is until you take a single turn and it is transformed once again into a malevolent headwind.

Granted these situations are annoying, but calling them the ‘bane of a bicyclist’s life’ is perhaps a little strong. That is unless you are a professional, in which case the weather decides if you win or lose a race, and in some cases, your livelihood. The sporting integrity of your typical Tour de France stage is not badly affected by the weather as the entire peloton is in the same situation, but when it comes to time trials, where individuals race the same course with a staggered start, changes in weather can really impact the results. Stage 9 at this year’s Giro D’Italia was a 34.8km Time Trial to San Marino, and the heavens opened halfway through proceedings; the wind picked up too, meaning the day’s early starters had a huge advantage. Wet surfaces reduce tyre grip, especially when using tubular racing slicks as they tend to aquaplane (a phenomenon where tyres slide across a wet surface due to a build up of water between the two which greatly reduces friction). This means that corners have to be taken with more care, leading to a longer time and a disadvantage. Even more serious is increased drag in certain directions as the wind changes, as overcoming air resistance counts for around 30% of effort, and changes in barometric pressure day to day or at higher altitudes can account for changes in power output in the order of 10% - so weather has a serious effect on performance.

But as we’ve seen recently, the conditions can cost more than a few seconds. On the 12th of June, 6-time Grand Tour winner and the man widely tipped to take his 5th Tour de France victory this summer, Chris Froome, broke a leg, elbow and ribs when he collided with a wall at 54kmh/33.5mph. But how did such an experienced rider, who regularly descends Alpine climbs at double that speed, lose control on a bike he was so at home on? His accident, which appears to have forced him off the bike for six months, happened during a recon for Stage 4 of the Critérium du Dauphiné, an eight day race considered a chance for riders to test their mettle before the 3,460 kilometres of French countryside that starts on the 6th of July. But the real question to ask here is whether it was freak weather, or something more systemic that just a gust of wind?

Professional cycling is, like many other sports, obsessed with the pursuit of performance, but this lust for speed can have unforeseen consequences, consequences that do not even cross into the subject of doping (which is a whole other can of worms on steroids). Deep-section wheels have been around in track racing for decades, and have become commonplace in the road-racing world for their effort saving aerodynamic advantages; infact an 86mm wheel could save up to 8% over a more traditional 'box-section'. So naturally, Team ‘marginal gains’ Sky/Ineos wholeheartedly adopted them. However good a deep wheel is at deflecting air whilst going forward, they provide much more of a hindrance in crosswinds, especially when a completely solid ‘disc wheel’ is used, much like Froome has been riding for the last couple of years, and can result in riders being pushed across the road like a curling stone.

A rider’s weight distribution on a standard bicycle is mainly centred over the rear wheel, as this is the contact point that the weight of the legs and most of the torso acts through, and this leaves the front wheel far less planted than its driven counterpart. A time-trial bike, like the Pinarello Bolide Froome was riding on Wednesday, is designed to have a more forward position for aerodynamic advantage, and a more even weight distribution is intended. And so when Chris Froome momentarily took his hands off the bars, something he must have done tens of thousands of times, the centre of mass shifted even further back on his low TT bike, and with a combination of a light front wheel with a huge surface area suddenly pushed by a rush of air, he lost control. At a high speed, a small push of the front wheel throws the bike out of line and is extremely difficult to control; either the rear wheel compensates by jumping nearly a metre off the ground followed by a series of oversteers, or the rider is thrown over the bars followed by a tumbling bike. In short, it doesn’t end well.

Froome was set to win his 5th Tour de France last year, after his resounding victory at its Spanish equivalent (‘the Vuelta’) and the ride of his life at the Giro, where his superhuman mountain attack earnt him enough time to secure the overall win, even after a few costly mistakes in the first week. But after such an impressive season, he was pipped to the post by longtime domestique (a rider who helps the team leader rather than riding for their own victory) Geraint Thomas. Winning a 5th Tour would put Froome in the exclusive club of four riders who have achieved the same, legends like Merckx and Hinault who are to bike-enthusiasts as Pelé is to football fans or Attenborough is to naturalists - the final piece in the 34 year-old’s near-perfect career. 2019 seemed to many to be his final chance to secure himself in not only the history books, but the very fabric of cycling itself, and perhaps that level of pressure got to him and his team. And less than a week later, teammate Geraint Thomas crashed heavily forcing his retirement from the Tour de Suisse.

Yes, riding bikes in bunches travelling faster than the average car is inherently dangerous, but is the pressure of victory and going faster and faster, forcing the riders to make potentially life-threatening mistakes? With the level of riders in this present era, many experts have suggested that the best racers are reasonably evenly matched when it comes to the climbs, and long gone are the days where Armstrong could arrive at a summit with enough time to prepare a three-course dinner for the next rider. The real test for contenders now lies in their descending ability, where the hairpin bends come after steep straights that can get a bike that weighs less than most school bags up to 131kmh/81.2mph, and the only thing slowing them is a spring, two rubber pads and a set of white knuckles. Predictions for this year’s Yellow Jersey vary wildly with Froome out of the picture, but Thomas may not ride as well without him to strengthen Ineos (who haven’t had the best season so far). Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe could be the first French winner since 1986, but Solvenian Primož Roglič looked strong a few weeks back at the Giro. The odds are undecided, but hopefully the pressure of the world’s greatest bike race or some unfortunate weather doesn’t put anyone else in hospital. Speedy recovery Froomey.