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As Filippo Ganna powered to victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné yesterday, the more nerdy corners of Cycling Twitter began speculating about a possible new breakthrough for the Ineos Grenadiers and their aero guru Dan Bigham.
That ground-breaking new discovery? Eh… baggy elbows, apparently.
With more than one Ineos rider having these flaps around the elbow, Ineos history and Bigham as staff this is no accident.
Didn’t see similar in the Jumbo suits. Another aero breakthrough by Bigham? https://t.co/CaGkChI99E
— Lena Kolumna (@reathina) June 8, 2022
My guess is that they are cut to be tight with elbows bent on the aero bars. The downside is that it’s looser with straight arms on the base bars. But I’m no aerodynamicist/tailor.
— Josh Warburg (@jcwarburg) June 8, 2022
They were definitely experimenting with suits then. Ganna had a different one from Hayter and arms could probably be tighter but today was a completely different level. If that wasn’t planned it was complete sabotage aerowise
— Lena Kolumna (@reathina) June 8, 2022
If by some weird twist of fate it turns out that saggy elbow flaps are actually aero, I would laugh so hard 😂
— Katy M (@writebikerepeat) June 8, 2022
All you tech geeks can put away your calculators and pencils, however, as it turned out that Ganna (like any mediocre club ten rider) was most likely merely wearing arm warmers underneath his time trial suit.
They then appeared to slip during his stage-winning effort, causing him to resemble a trackie-wearing teenager from the 1990s (that’s Tour-winning attention to detail right there).
@anewcd found the probably answer. Ganna didn’t wear a long sleeved suit. The “arm warmers” probably slipped up a bit after 30km riding and created that unintentional flap. Also explains the double wc bands https://t.co/EQi78y6FUr
— Lena Kolumna (@reathina) June 8, 2022
To be fair, if loose-fitting cycling clothing really was the key to success, I’d have cleaned up back in the day…
While ‘90s Kevin and Perry chic was enough to propel Ganna to victory by two seconds over the more streamlined Wout van Aert, Ineos teammate Ethan Hayter adopted an even more novel approach to time trialling, on his way to third place:
Sorry but as a contact lens wearer, for Ethan Hayter to put in THAT performance despite losing his visor is some king shit. A light breeze is enough to discombobulate me when I’m wearing mine 😅 #Dauphine #Dauphiné2022
— Katy M (@writebikerepeat) June 8, 2022
Is marginal sight the new marginal gain?
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