The Netherlands roared to an Olympic males’s Team Sprint victory final night time and scored a brand new World and Olympic report of 40.949 seconds for the three-lap dash occasion alongside the way in which.
The collective firepower of Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen, and Jeffrey Hoogland who’ve been dominant in dash occasions over the previous a number of years was an excessive amount of for silver medal winners Ed Lowe, Hamish Turnbull and Jack Carlin of Team GB.
Fractions of seconds decide the distinction between successful and shedding on the boards of the velodrome. None of the gear being utilized by any nation is chosen at random and the fixed seek for velocity is seemingly unending.
You could have observed the eye-catching vibrant pinky/crimson Dugast tyres fitted to the black Koga bikes being ridden by the Dutch squad. These aren’t any strange tyres, and given the squad’s dominance and world-beating efficiency, we thought we might take a more in-depth have a look at the particular tyres chosen by the quickest males on this planet.
We lately revealed an in-depth monitor tech characteristic with extremely skilled Dutch Head mechanic Tim de Boer who shared some information on the staff’s tyre decisions and why they select to make use of them.
The Dutch monitor staff selected to make use of Dugast latex tubulars. If you are not certain, tubular tyres are comprised of an interior tube (typically latex) that is sewn right into a casing which is often cotton. The rubber tyre tread is utilized and a base tape then goes over the stitched collectively casing. A glue is then utilized to the tyre’s base tape and the wheel’s rim to bond them collectively. Tyres need to be glued correctly to make sure the tyres are on straight and that the tyre and wheel do not grow to be unbonded at an important second.
Dugast tubulars have lengthy been thought of to be a number of the quickest round, however a few years in the past the small Dutch firm was acquired by Vittoria.
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It appears Vittoria is not considering producing Dugast monitor tubulars shifting ahead which implies the tip of the street for the legendary pink tyres. You can discover the cyclocross tubulars on the web site, nevertheless it’s the tip of the street for the monitor tubs. The Dutch squad thought of them the quickest tyre choice for the monitor and positioned one final order with the corporate. We cannot listing an RRP right here, as a result of we merely do not know what they value and tyres aren’t commercially out there any extra.
“Dugast is gone, the staff have been in a position to order a number of tyres as a result of they knew issues could be altering, and Dugast gave us every thing they have been in a position to make. Everything that is not excellent we use in coaching. For the Olympics, we placed on the great ones.”
Chatting with De Boer, it sounded just like the staff bought as lots of the handmade tyres as Dugast have been in a position to produce for them. The tyres use a latex tread, and the staff use them in a 25mm measurement on their Campagnolo rear and Princeton entrance disc wheels. On the subject of wheels, De Boer additionally instructed us the CULT bearings within the Campagnolo Ghibli disc wheels, now the selection for nearly each nation after years of Mavic dominance are actually glorious.
“We put a lot stress in it, usually we put 14 bars in it, and that is like 200 psi. So they only need to be actually onerous, from what I’ve examined, it is just like the more durable, the higher. But we do not need to threat blowing a tyre or one thing, so we all the time simply persist with 14 bars.”
The handmade Dugasts, as talked about have a latex tread and naked cotton base tape. The handmade nature means generally a tread is probably not fully straight on a casing, which implies the tyre could not run completely as soon as mounted. De Boer pre-selects the perfect ones to be used a the Olympics.
“We know with these tyres, they’re so fragile and light-weight and so they’re not excellent, even for those who kind them, they’re nonetheless not excellent. I can nonetheless glue a number of tyres in Paris if essential, I do not really feel nervous about them not being caught.”
The extremely light-weight development additionally means the tyres can put on out in a matter of laps, that is just some kilometres, relying on the occasion and the way they’re being ridden. Imagine your street tyres sporting out in simply over two kilometres.
“After the standing begins with the sprinters, the tyre can have injury and want altering. But within the Omnium the tyre can final a very long time, it is dependent upon the occasion and the rider. With a clean rider, the tyre will final a very long time, with a rider that is in every single place the tyre will not final lengthy. In the Madison, the tyres put on shortly as a result of aggressive using and line modifications.”
De Boer defined that many countries select to make use of different tyres, like Vittoria or Continental however he nonetheless considers Dugast the very quickest, though in some unspecified time in the future the staff’s inventory will run out.
“There should not many nations using on Dugast anyway. They assume they aren’t reliable and that generally you get issues with them. They would fairly go together with Vittoria that are slower however maintain air for a really very long time.”
“Why is it an excessive amount of work? If it is a acquire, it is a acquire. For me, it would not matter if I’ve to vary a tyre earlier than the race, if it is faster, it is faster. “
This is unquestionably an perception into the no-holds-barred quest for velocity and efficiency that helped the Dutch sprinters thunder to Olympic gold and a brand new World Record final night time.