Some of our riders travelled to the United States recently, to the headquarters of long-time sponsor Specialized, for several testing sessions in the world’s finest cycling-specific wind tunnel.
European ITT Champion Remco Evenepoel, Luxembourg Champion Bob Jungels and two-time Dwars door Vlaanderen winner Yves Lampaert, riders who between them have scored ten victories for the Wolfpack in 2019, tested bikes and components over three days and fine-tuned their time trial position, supervised by Deceuninck – Quick-Step trainer Koen Pelgrim, technical director Ricardo Scheidecker and the staff of Specialized, whose unbridled passion for the sport, hard work and dedication have provided again only the best material to our team, the most successful in the world for the eighth consecutive year.
Besides a detailed assessment of the rider – bike aerodynamic system, their trip to Morgan Hill included also a training ride under California’s blue sky, as well as talks about the bikes and accessories with the people of Specialized, whose investment in development and technology are in tone with Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s continuous search for improvement and desire to remain at the top of the game.
“It was very interesting and really nice to visit Specialized, as we learned a lot during our stay there. For me, it was a pleasure to meet all those people who work every single day so that we can enjoy the best bikes, shoes and helmets. When you talk about your experiences on the bike, you can feel that the people there really listen and are interested in what you’re telling them so they can work on their products. We can be happy to have a sponsor like Specialized”, said Remco Evenepoel, who was recently named best Belgian rider of the year at the prestigious Kristallen Fiets Gala. “The weather was good, so we took the opportunity to train a bit around the lake, before doing some testing in Specialized’s RETUL fit lab and their cool wind tunnel.”
The first Luxembourger in over a century to conquer a cobbled Classic, Bob Jungels echoed the thoughts of his younger teammate: “We had a great time in Morgan Hill. I was looking forward to this, and I must say I didn’t expect to come home with the gains we had. Working with Specialized is exceptional for us, we are lucky to have them as partners. I worked on honing my position on the bike, tested a few things, changed other things, and in the end, I am really content with what I found out. A small change can bring a lot of gain, and it was the case also now. I’m very glad we did this session of testing.”
“We’ve had some very useful days in Morgan Hill. We’ve mainly focussed on optimization of the time trial position of our riders, and for that, the wind tunnel is a great tool. The combination of having a team of dedicated bike fitters, a test that checks the physiological effects of changes in position and subsequently a very fine measurement of the aerodynamic drag is a dream for me as a coach. That combination of these three tools makes is the perfect setup to optimize the performance of our riders.”
Deceuninck – Quick-Step trainer Koen Pelgrim continued: “As we were going to Morgan Hill with three time trial specialists with whom we already did multiple tests to optimize their TT position, we were of course hoping to find subtle improvements. To our surprise however, with the help of Specialized, we were able to make quite significant gains in the reduction of the aerodynamic drag of our riders. With these changes, we’ll be able to train during the upcoming winter period in already an optimized position, which makes us confident we can see very good performances again of our TT specialists in 2020.”
Yves Lampaert 