DZ's Day?

I just checked the weather for Thousand Oaks, reported to have winds WNW at 20-30 mph with a high of 60 degrees. If DZ in fact has the most aero body of any rider in pro cycling, and given he is a big rider, this should favor him. It could also be a great day for George Hincapie, Jens Voigt (who moved up about 10 places in the CG yesterday with an incredible TT), Tony Martin, and anybody with some beef on a compact frame. Too bad Tom Boonen and Thor Husvold are not in the race, as that profile fits them to a T.

I am saying this half in jest, but after Tony Martin pulled the peleton for mile after mile in the brutal Queen Stage 6, and then blew away the field the next day with a jaw-dropping 41:41 TT to annihilate the field, somebody should be making sure that was done the old-fashioned way. Entirely possible, given his age, but for everyone in the sport it would be great to know the guy beating your brains out is competing on an equal basis.

Watching Leipheimer's TT yesterday, I couldn't help but notice he was getting bounced all over the place. He also came out of his aerobars on most of the corners, and stood to accelerate after some. I really hated the extreme vertical rise on his aerobars too. It was very windy yesterday, and the surface was rough and the corners tight, so I understand the concern for not crashing out. If I could offer some constructive criticism though, it might be beneficial to work up an alternate bike and configuration for such days.

Options worth considering on such a configuration would be the Syntace C3 bars, more compliant wheels with less sensitivity to crosswinds, a more compliant fork and seat, and shallower head-tube angle. The idea would be to trade off some weight for the ability to stay in the aero position 100% of the time.

Watching DZ and Martin ride through the same corners as Levi down in their aero positions while he went down on the bull horns on every turn was painful. Levi could also try leaving one arm in the aerobars and one on the bull-horns while turning. I do this habitually and find it adds a lot of stability. Finally, do something to keep the back tip of the helmet down on the back, not sticking up into the slipstream.

Best of luck to all the competitors today. Can't wait for the Verses coverage to start!