Pro Shots
NOS Wielrennen•vandaag, 17:33
Frank Hettinga
editor NOS Sport
Frank Hettinga
editor NOS Sport
Great cyclists such as Chris Froome, Egan Bernal and Annemiek van Vleuten have all crashed hard during training with their time trial bike.
Last week it also happened to Ellen van Dijk, three-time world time trial champion, and Lorenzo Milesi, the world champion from Italy among the promises.
Dutch Van Dijk hit a trailer hard during a training camp in Spain. She suffered a fracture in her ankle and will go under the knife on Thursday. Participation in the Olympic Games and the battle for gold may be in jeopardy.
Is it still responsible to get on these special time trial bikes? It is a question that four-time Tour winner Froome has already raised. Annemiek van Vleuten, who won gold at the Tokyo Games, is now doing the same.
ANPAnnemiek van Vleuten wins Olympic gold in the time trial
“I say this a bit with a heavy heart, but maybe it would be better to ride the time trials on regular bikes again.” Van Vleuten pauses for a moment and laughs. “No, you didn’t expect that, did you, from the Olympic time trial champion.”
You sit differently on a time trial bike than on a normal racing bike. The arms rest on a special aerodynamic handlebar, above the normal handlebar, so out of reach of the brakes. The time trial rider keeps his head down, preferably against his hands; and therefore sees very little.
I have never been able to train uninhibitedly on the time trial bike again.
Annemiek van Vleuten
Let one thing be clear: Van Vleuten is a big fan of time trial. “It’s a bit like the Formula 1 of cycling. Testing aerodynamics in the wind tunnel, the speed, the power. I always liked that about the discipline.”
“But I also discovered its dangers in 2015.” Van Vleuten was hit by a car during a training ride on the time trial bike in Livigno, Italy. She suffered three broken ribs, a broken collarbone and a collapsed lung. Van Vleuten spent a week in the hospital for observation.
Van Vleuten: “Since then I have always been aware of the dangers. I have never been able to train uninhibitedly on the time trial bike again. Even though you are cycling at 50 kilometers per hour on a dike where no one else is riding. It is very vulnerable: the brakes are stuck. not near your hands.”
Van Vleuten also felt some fear during the race, especially on a hilly course. “You want to win, it’s all about seconds, and then you take risks. Especially when you’re in that steering wheel and you’re throwing yourself down a hill at 80 kilometers per hour. Then you just have to trust that things will go well. ” She laughs. “It feels a bit like a ride on the De Baron roller coaster in the Efteling.”
The time trial position can also be dangerous during a race. For example, last year Stefan Küng crashed into the fences during the European Time Trial Championships in Drenthe because he barely looked where he was in his aerodynamic position. He finished the time trial with a heavily bloodied cycling jersey and a concussion.
“The fact is: we ride much faster than ten years ago. It’s going faster and faster. I’m sometimes afraid that something super serious has to happen first before the UCI (the international cycling union, ed.) makes changes. The principle of the time trial is to set the fastest time. I don’t think there will be another winner on a regular bike, it’s all about who pedals the fastest, right?”
ANPStefan Küng has a serious fall during the European Time Trial Championships in Drenthe
Tom Dumoulin “absolutely disagrees” with banning the time trial bicycle. But he also honestly admits: “I am a bit colored,” says the former rider who won silver twice at the Games as a time trialist and became world champion in 2017.
Dumoulin: “I think time trialling is very special. The whole search for innovation with special, aerodynamic bicycles, suits and helmets is a fun game that is part of cycling.”
“I also don’t really understand what is dangerous about time trial. I think it is the least dangerous part in the entire sport of cycling. Riders fall much more often on road bikes than on time trial bikes. Just add up all the falls. So I see Not really a pattern yet, to be honest.”
Dumoulin says he has never experienced dangerous situations on the time trial bike. “No, I’ve never been afraid. I was always very careful, actually.”
ANP
“As a rider, you understand that if you want to look down during time trial, you shouldn’t do that on a road with a lot of traffic? I always did my time trial blocks along the canal where no one comes, and certainly no cars. I I also drove in hilly landscapes, but then I didn’t look down all the time.”
Abolishing the time trial bike will not solve anything, he says. “Cycling teams are looking in the wind tunnel for other ways to gain profit with even more dangerous bicycle designs. Then you end up with far too long stems or strange positions on the bicycle that are completely unsuitable for riding in a peloton.”
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2024-06-11 15:33:19
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