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In 2013, on the age of 41, Chris Horner grew to become the oldest rider to win the Vuelta a España, or any Grand Tour for that matter. He is additionally the newest American to win a Grand Tour, however will Sepp Kuss be subsequent? Let’s check out Horner’s Radioshack Leopard group version Trek Madone 7.9 that he propelled to victory a decade in the past, that includes tubular wheels and dirt-unfriendly white spokes…
The 2013 Vuelta a España was a showdown between Nibali and Horner and the battle of Specialised versus Trek, but it surely was the veteran American and his American-branded bike that got here out on prime. It was one of the crucial stunning Grand Tour victories of latest instances, and likewise made Horner the oldest to realize this feat.
The Radioshack Leopard group had the selection of two top-end race bikes for the 2013 season after Trek launched the all-new Domane and the up to date Madone again in 2012.
They selected the Domane 6.9 for the Classics, a cobble-taming race bike with an modern suspension body design, and the extra aerodynamic Madone 7.9 for the Grand Excursions.
The Madone is considered one of Trek’s most established fashions, and it underwent considered one of its most important overhauls up to now presently. There was a powerful give attention to enhancing aerodynamics, leading to some hanging transformations.
> Has aero gone too far? The most excessive cycling tech made to shave milliseconds
Consideration was instantly directed to the rear stays, the place the brake caliper had disappeared. It was moved to beneath the chainstays behind the underside bracket to minimise aerodynamic drag and likewise cut back weight as a result of absence of a brake mount.
Kammtail Digital Foil (KVF) tube profiles, taken from Trek’s Pace Idea time trial bike, have been included into the primary tubes within the entrance triangle. This tube design and the repositioning of the rear brake, claimed to make the bike a lot quicker total, saving 25 watts when using at 40kph, Trek stated.
In distinction to among the best aero bikes of right now, the Madone 7.9 lacks front-end integration and would not function aero profile handlebars.
As an alternative, you will discover that Horner’s drops are an unsual form and these are from Trek’s personal element model Bontrager – the Bontrager RL anatomic bar, that are ergonomically formed to boost consolation.
Bontrager additionally provided the stems, seatpost and saddle.
One other attention-grabbing function is that Horner hooked up his race quantity contained in the entrance triangle somewhat than on the seat tube the place we’d ordinarily see it, which was maybe thought to mitigate among the aerodynamic disadvantages.
The wheels are additionally from Bontrager, and you will both love or hate the white spokes!
Horner used the Aeolus D3 tubular wheels in a alternative of 35, 50, 70 and 90mm deep, mixed with Schwalbe Ultremo HT tubular tyres with a claimed weight of 250g.
Tubular wheels at the moment are largely a factor of the previous within the professional peloton with the rise of tubeless setups, however tubular setups are nonetheless typically lighter than tubeless.
> Have we witnessed the death of tubular tyres?
The groupset of alternative was Shimano’s newest model of its digital groupset on the time, Dura-Ace Di2 9070 11-speed.
It had a a lot cleaner design than the earlier model of Dura-Ace, with noticably extra compact derailleurs, and the battery might be slipped contained in the seatpost somewhat than hanging off the underside of the downtube.
Lastly, SRM provided the crank-based energy meters, which nonetheless have a repute for being among the best power meters even right now.
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