Bagneres-de-Bigorre (France) (AFP)
Julian Alaphilippe, yellow jersey of the Tour de France, will end Friday for the Pau time trial a combination designed by the organizers and not by his team: this regulation, frustrating for the formations that invest in the textile, pushed the organization to get level.
"It's a reality, you have to do with it," summarizes with a touch of bitterness Ricardo Scheidecker, responsible for the performance of the Deceuninck team, that of Alaphilippe. The technician says "a lot of work to have the fastest equipment possible", including the combination of time, but knows that his rider will not enjoy it.
According to the rules, all the distinctive jerseys, including yellow, are designed, produced and distributed by the organizers, who affix at the last moment the logo of the team concerned.
A lesser harm on the online stages where aerodynamics is not a major concern. A real exception in time trials where every second counts.
"We would like to be able to change the rules, to ensure that the teams can have their own combinations while putting the logos of the organizers, but for the moment this is not possible", continues the Portuguese technician at the head of the Belgian team.
- In-depth work -
The question arose during the lap times of the 2017 Tour. Chris Froome's Sky team had dressed its riders with a special combination of vortices - aerodynamic strips that have since been banned - but could not profit their use on their leader, yellow jersey for the against the clock of Marseille and therefore forced to comply with the rule.
"We made feedbacks to the organization because it would be a pity that once our runner is in yellow, he may be at a disadvantage compared to other teams", recalls Nicolas Portal, the sports director of the team, renamed Ineos today.
"Between the best combinations and the worst combinations of the pack, there can be a difference of 4% in aerodynamics." This is huge, "said Frederic Grappe, the head of performance at Groupama-FDJ, who would like the The technical characteristics of the organizers' model are transmitted to the teams.
The organization, without questioning its rules, has however been seized of the subject for several years. "It required a lot of work, we got closer to the technicians to try to stick to the teams," said race director Thierry Gouvenou.
- "Correct the slightest crease" -
Le Coq sportif, an equipment manufacturer who makes the distinctive jerseys for the Grande Boucle, has been asked to deliver a quality combination. If its yellow jerseys are assembled in France, in the historical factory of the brand in Romilly-sur-Seine (Aube), the textile fibers are designed in a partner factory located in Portugal and specialized in technical sports equipment, specifies the Mark.
"The subjects progress each year, the teams discover them on the Tour," says David Pécard, textile director of Coq sportif, which ensures that "the yellow jersey is as good as if the rider was wearing his own equipment".
For this reason, each year since 2012, the equipment manufacturer sends two model makers and two prototypists to the hotel of the yellow jersey the day before the time trial to measure the leader of the general classification from all angles, make him try the combination, shorten it, cut it to the millimeter. A precision exercise that sometimes lasts more than an hour and a half.
"They ask us to correct the slightest crease in the neck, arms," describes Anne-Marie Parent, prototypist of the brand. In particular, she remembers that she was unable, in 2017, to satisfy a request from the Sky team, who wanted to print the bib number directly on the suit. "They were stubborn, but the fabric was too thin and we ended up convincing them."
Despite some episodes like this, "the returns are effective, there is no ulterior motive," says Thierry Gouvenou. Nicolas Portal confirms. "Even if we can not test them (beforehand), we must admit that they are very good".
© 2019 AFP