Clinchers at San Remo?

[alembical]

I ride clinchers, but I have always been under the impression that the pros do not. While this appears to normally to be true, why were there more riders running clinchers at Milan San Remo than normal? Are there races that are more clincher friendly?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/teamtech04.php?id=tech/2004/features/sanremo

Alembical

[amg]

Pros do ride clinchers, more due to sponsorship issues than anything else. I don't think there are "clincher friendly" or "tubular friendly" coarses, I'd say in every case across the board a tubular is a better choice, but I imagine the tire sponsors want the pros to be seen in races riding clinchers. It's no accident that Michelin uses that light blue tire that shows up so well in photos!

Antonio :beer:

[merlinagilis]

With all the talk of lightweight equipment, wheels, etc., its interesting to see how many teams still use the Mavic Cosmic Carbones, about the heaviest wheelset out there.

[theprep]

It looks like the wheels on Cipolini's and Petacchi's bikes are ALL Carbon.

Definately not the ones you and I could purchase.

Also note all the 140mm stems in the photos.

[vaxn8r]

I'll bet those Carbones are tremendous on flat/rolling courses...doing about 45+kph. I doubt you'll see them in the mountains though.

[Andreu]

I have heard several times from amatuers and pros that tubulars can slide off on long mountain desents due to the higher temperatures experienced because of the braking....melts the glue and/or glue on the tape. But generally apart from these courses I would guess that tubulars would be preferred.
A

[Climb01742]

there was speculation that beloki's crash was caused, at least in part, by tubs that came unglued by braking heat. :bike:

[Andreu]

The story I have heard is that there was oil on the road and when the bike started to take a wobble on the forces ripped the tub off his rim which then caught on his fork and flipped him off. If he was riding clinchers it may have made the crash a little more easier on him....who knows?
A

[Climb01742]

something definitely happened when he braked really hard. it did look like it skidded, so oil makes sense. but then the tub started to come off the rim. was it just the pressure of the skid? was the glue softened a bit? as you said, who knows? whatever it was, it was one nasty fall. yikes.

[Andreu]

:bike:
Eh ..that probably makes sense ....if the glue was a bit soft it wouldn't help.
I remember watching this on TV here in Spain. Here the TV crews tend not to leave anything to the imagination when there are crashes of any kind (cars or bikes) so after Beloki had fallen he was lying on the road and the Spanish TV crews were filming with sound .....I will never forget the sounds of the poor bloke screaming in pain.....horrible.
Of course, this also featured a piece of extreme cycling by Lance as he went cyclocross for a few seconds to miss Beloki. I think this scene will stay with me for the rest of my life...
A

[MartyE]

Cycling News.com has story about new mavic Cosmic Carbone's. They
have no alu in them, much lighter.
See here New Mavic Wheels (http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=tech/2004/news/mar30)
As to the Beloki Crash, my understanding of what happened
(and was rehashed a gazillion times). High temperatures caused the
tar in the road to melt/soften. When Beloki attempted to slow going
into the corner the soft tar caused his back wheel to begin to slide
out. He hit the brakes and exacerbated the situation, when the tire caught on the road. At that point neither clincher nor tubular would
have stayed on (sliding sideways). Beloki was already being high sided
when his tire rolled.

I too saw European coverage of this and it was horrible listening to
him sob/moan while waiting for the ambulance.

Marty