[ad_1]
Three hours before Team Sunweb and Dumoulin's team time trial begins, a seemingly innocent question arises after the exploration of the 35.5 kilometer course with departure and arrival in Cholet: in which order Are the runners going? Does his team lead like this?
Limburger, 27, doubts, drops and says with a smile: "We will keep this for ourselves, we have a good order and there is an idea behind it, I can not say it."
A few hours later, after the Sunweb team finished fifth in the team time trial, eleven seconds behind the winner BMC, Teun van Erp smiles on the phone when told of Dumoulin's answer. "Yes, you can call it commercial secret," says scientist Sunweb's team movement. "Our plan does not save minutes, but can save up to a few seconds and at this level it can make a difference."
New Ideas
Van Erp has been working for the German team leader Iwan Spekenbrink since 2012. One of his most important tasks as a scientific expert is to Use data to optimize performance during timed practice (shift).
In preparation for this season, team time trial for the first time since 2015. During the tour tour, with the help of the models of the Delft University of Technology, Van Erp discovered new knowledge about the team, which allowed the Sunweb team to "do something different" versus the time trial. "We know the power and the aerodynamic values of all the pilots, and when we introduce them into a model with the course of the Tour, an optimum for our tactics, especially for the eight pilots of our Tour team, and this model seems to be really nice. "
Able to aim
At home on the bank of Brabant – The Sunweb team can not take everyone from the guide to France k – saw Monday Van Erp as the plan that he had established with the movement scientist Jorn Knops, coach Adriaan Helmantel and the team leaders present in the Tour were "supernetjes" played by the riders
. Do not go too fast, a trap that Team Sunweb gave last month to the team time trial of the Tour de Suisse. "The course of Monday has seen a rise at the beginning," says Van Erp. "For the first 2.6 kilometers, we gave the drivers a" power of direction "to not have to get rid of some drivers like in Switzerland, because an extra male gives you much more than the small in the rest of the cons -the-watch. "
This type of knowledge is, in Dumoulin's words," very important, "but both the runner and the movement specialist point out that the race is finally won on the bike and not behind the bike. Laptop.
"It's important to leave with a plan, but it's also important that you stay with you during the ride," says Dumoulin. "We have knowledge, but in the end you can not not write the day's form in a plan, so you must always do it yourself on your bike. "
With today's form it was well in Cholet, where Dumoulin climbed to seventh place at general classification at eleven seconds of the new transport Greetings Greg Van Avermaet. "Losing eleven seconds with this team on BMC in a team time trial is just great," says Van Erp, to keep on laughing: "But I have to study the video and data to see if they really worked well. "
Source link
