There's a lot of talk about crashes, attributing them to the fact that they're mainly related to increasingly stiff and faster bikes and materials. It's true that we go fast today. It's evolution. A modern bike, in fact. a bike + athlete package today, with the same effort and anthropometric numbers, is certainly faster than in the past.
But are we sure that these crashes are entirely to blame on the bikes, wheels, and disc brakes? Or is there something else to blame? Are the riders responsible?
We talk about it with Paolo Savoldelli, A man who knew how to ride a bike. His descents are a testament to cycling. Paolo had developed his technique as a child and refined it over the years, from youth categories to professional racing.
A question of positions
We throw in a note of our own to Savoldelli based on real observations: riders (almost) always keep their hands on the levers Downhill. And even when in a group, at the end of the race, you slow down to 60 miles an hour. Visibility drops significantly in this latter circumstance, and if a pothole causes you to lose your grip with your hands on the levers, you end up on the ground.
The absolute emblem of this type of fall is Jens Voigt at Tour 2009 descending from the Little St. Bernard: hands on the levers, high speed, dip, fall (disastrous and inevitable) forward.
Before talking directly about hands, Savoldelli, however, starts from the positions on the bike. Also because, as we will see, the two things are linked.
«The position – explains the Bergamasco Falcon – has changed completely compared to when I was racing, but also Moser or Bugno… Today they are all shorter and more advanced. One of the first to propose these modern positions was Alberto Contador. Surely today they have seen that biomechanically they perform better, they go in search of watts, but certainly this very advanced position is not ideal for riding the bike well."
Those custom frames
The center of gravity is all the more advanced, and this was also supported by the mechanic of the Ineos Grenadiers, Matthew Cornacchione, While 20 years ago, they were much further back. Among other things, Cornacchione said that Pidcock was less forward than others. Keep this phrase in mind and think about how the Englishman goes downhill...
"Certainly," Savoldelli continues, "materials have an impact, especially frames and wheels, which are more rigid. Today, frames themselves are standard, while we had custom-made ones and this was an added value. But we also have to consider the fact that today there are more speed bumps, more roundabouts, more traffic islands. It's not just downhill that people fall. And there's more stress in groups and more mistakes are made. In short, for me, falls are due to a combination of factors."
Paolo Savoldelli offers a comprehensive analysis that's hard not to agree with, but the issue of hands on the levers remains open. It's an objective fact that if you place them on the curve of the handlebars, especially over bumps or potholes, the palm of your hand has a point of resistance, a grip (the handlebars themselves). However, if you place them on the levers, this point is missing.
Hands on the levers
If you look closely, In the famous crash in the Basque Country that took out Evenepoel, Vingegaard and many others, the frontriders all had their hands on the levers. Maybe someone could have been saved with their hands underneath. Incidentally, it was Remco himself who triggered the mass fall when he lost contact with the ground due to a depression (a root, we were told), leaving his hands on the ground.
«In theory – says Savoldelli – being so short and forward, by putting their hands underneath they should stretch, but then the reality is that they would end up even more squashed. I guess that's why they're constantly trying to get a grip on the levers."
«It's also true that some athletes, like Evenepoel, may lack the basics because they didn't race when they were young, but riding well at certain levels is also a talent».
Necessary compromise
Grip on the levers and advanced positions go hand in hand, but it is true that many people still don't ride well.
«I – says Savoldelli – For example, I noticed that riders often stand up on the saddle before entering the curve: this is wrong.. That's something you shouldn't do. At that moment you lighten the weight, the control over the bike. But I think this depends on the fact that they end up too far forward and try to retreat. And for the same reason they go looking for the levers and not the curve of the handlebars.
«We were more relaxed, with less difference in height between saddle and handlebars and the low grip came more naturally to us».
With the hands in a high grip, control is slower and the center of gravity rises. And here, according to what Savoldelli told us, we must break a lance in favor of the riders: By putting your hands on the levers, it's true that this center of gravity is raised a little, but it's also true that it is rebalanced., as it falls a little less on the front.
In short, keeping your hands on the crease is certainly safer, but with these positions it's not that easy either.
