The things that are done behind closed doors in the first retreat. The hotel of the future in December Soudal-Quick Step It remained closed to journalists. New riders, new gear. Too many things all at once to risk any unauthorized photos being leaked. During the same days, in the ground-floor rooms of the Suitopia Hotel in Calpe, Retul's men have been working on several custom-made insoles and have checked the position of the new ones and of the others who have requested it.The team will also race in 2023 with the Tarmac SL7 from Specialized. And since it's not yet known when the SL8 will be launched, there were no major biomechanical changes.
What happened in those rooms We had Giampaolo Mondini tell us about it, That is the riders' gateway to top-level assistance in terms of positioning by bike and custom insoles and in the three weeks before Christmas he toured the hotels of the sponsored teams for this reason.
Did you work only with the new riders or with the others as well?
«It's a service we offer to all our teams. With newcomers, we try to make them understand the advantages of the best position. When you join a new team, you change the bike, the saddle, the handlebars, the pedals. Everything changes, so the certainty that the angles have been respected is an advantage. That's why we usually start in October."
With the season still underway?
Exact. It is used to keep the athletes fit and you haven't stopped for three weeksThey need to be presentable. Both because of the position in the saddle, because maybe after three weeks of stop they don't have the same elasticity. Both for the possibility of making tailor-made clothing, when they are still stretched.
What do you do with the old riders?
Sometimes they are the ones who ask to be framed. Maybe they fell, or they changed the saddle, have a sore knee or want a customized insole. In Calpe this time there wasn't much to do for biomechanics.
Masnada said he had to revise his position to avoid the inflammation that made him suffer at the Vuelta.
Masnada has such a narrow conformation of the pelvic bones, that whatever saddle he had used so far, caused him lacerations. He was so ruined at the Vuelta that he finished it to help Remco, but he finished the season there.
How did you solve it?
The solution was to try a time trial saddle, the SiteroWe have saddle widths from 130mm up to over 160mm. It is very rare for riders to use saddles this narrow., but Fausto may have solved the problem. Sitero also has a shorter nose, so he was able to keep the situation under control. But we'll have to keep monitoring him to see if he's okay. Sometimes you change saddles, when the saddles don't matter.
What do you want to say?
So many now they have the seat pad made to measure, even Nibali did itIt's not such a trivial thing, in recent years it has been increasingly frequent attention. And we are starting to notice that the problems attributed to saddles come from the seat pad, if not even from the cream used for the private parts..
To the creams?
We had a problem with one team. Only that one. And eventually we discovered that they were using a cream that made the saddle so greasy, it damaged the cover. Freedom should be given to the seat pad, as well as to the shoes., even if I say it against my own best interests. We ourselves, if the rider doesn't like our products, leave him free to look for something better. What I don't like is that, even in the absence of sponsorship, there are teams that prohibit riders from using certain brands.
How does the Retul system work?
We start from the basic position, assuming they are already well-equipped on the bike. Changes must be carefully evaluated. Muscle fibers adapt, but they work in a specific direction. When changing, you have to be careful because every change can have consequences. Regardless of length, the important factor is the angle between the various body segments. So, we start from the basic position, then The Retul algorithm correlates the rider's position with that of all the others tested so far, providing indications on the best angles.
In what way?
It is created a 3D map of the rider pedaling, once a comparison was made between photographs. LED markers are placed on 8 fixed points, usually bony protrusions, detecting a minimum of 17 angles up to a maximum of 45, with which you obtain the exact perspective of the positionIf the system says the position is correct, we do nothing. If, however, we see that some angle can be improved, In agreement with the rider and the team's physiotherapist, it is decided whether to intervene and how.
Intervene on what?
The system tells you that a corner can be improved, It is up to the biomechanic's experience to find the way to correct itIf you lower the saddle, lengthen the stem, or something else. You make changes of a few millimeters, you arrive at a shared position, and then The rider is given about twenty days to train for hours and hours, experimenting with the new positionIf you make the position in December, you do a check in January and then you don't touch it again.
How important is biomechanics?
Our goal is to remove the subjectivity of the biomechanic. You need to be experienced in using the tool. Sometimes you can reach the same final position by starting from different points, but the important thing is that the result is identical. It is not possible that two different biomechanics lead to two different positions.
Where do Retul biomechanics come from?
When Specialized took over the brand, There were 5 “professors” who still teach the Retul method today. Those who follow the teams are the same ones who develop the algorithm and use the riders' feedback to improve it. In general, All those who use the Retul system in shops and biomechanics centers are trained to be able to. The person responsible for Italy is called Silvio Coatto.
Does it happen that the rider wants to change without a real need?
It's something that happens. Our mental goal is to isolate the rider's sensations from our assessment.Sometimes during the preparation it happens that something doesn't go as expected and the first thing he does, if you don't find an explanation, it's time to get your hands on the bike. Without realizing that this often creates more serious problems.
Same story at Chrono?
In time trials it's different. The team is given all the data of the most reliable position and from there they start workingIn the wind tunnel, we start from the base position and then move to the extreme, to find the most aerodynamic and efficient one. Then we take the Retul bike called Muve, on which the position can be changed without the rider having to dismount.
What do you do?
You make him pedal at the threshold, with a face mask, so as to do a metabolic test for VO2MaxIn this way, a limit point is reached and at that point you can go and do tests on the track, looking for the position that best applies to reality. Now that they've changed the rules and the inclinations of the appendages, there's a lot of work to do.
What kind of work did you do on Evenepoel?
Remco wanted to check the position. And since he had already put on the time trial bike the 165 cranksets, wanted to see if they could also be adopted on the road, but in the end he chose to stay with the 170, like Alaphilippe. Long cranks are becoming less and less common nowadays.
Do you also work on riders' asymmetries?
Macroscopic defects are visible to the naked eye. In any case The Retul platform rotates and allows the rider to be assessed from both sides.
The rest is among the things that are known but not said. We are talking about riders sponsored by others who ask to have custom-made insoles and then it's better not to name names. There are in fact those who have an express veto on using Specialized materials and those who, to get around it, even produce a medical certificateThere's always been a sort of complicity among those involved, with the well-being of the athletes above all else. The sponsor and the contract are fine, but when you're on the bike for five hours a day, you need to be comfortable above all else.
