After the women’s debut on Saturday, it was time for the men to make their entrance on Sunday at the People’s Choice criterium. This would be the first men’s race of the Tour Down Under, though it’s technically a separate event from the rest of the 6-stage tour. Like an appetizer dish that somehow doesn’t count against your tab.
It’s also the first opportunity to take inventory of the gear of the pro men. Like with the ladies, I’m mainly focused on sports tech goodness, more than bike frames and wheels and such. Those areas are just a bit outside my focus. However, I’ve included whole-bike pics in virtually all team sections, so it makes it pretty easy to identify those parts.
This year we’ve got a few little new tidbits in the mix – including a totally unseen before bike computer. Heck, there’s still nothing about it on the manufacturers website, and only a single line in a generic press release. But more on that down below!
A Brief Note On Sponsorship’s:
It’s important to remember that in almost every case below, the power meter brands are sponsoring either teams or individual athletes. Same goes for shifting technologies. About the only exception is head units, though even some of those are sponsored (i.e. via SRM or Pioneer deals for power meters, head units come along).
Given the very nature of sponsorship is showing off one’s brand for payment (or free equipment), it shouldn’t be assumed that any product is inherently ‘better’ because a WorldTour team is riding it. Instead, it’s just there because they were paid to ride it. You’ll see power meter brands change year after year with the wind (or the payment as it may be). You’ll also see cases where a brand may be sponsoring a team, but the team isn’t actually riding the commercially available product. For example – Team Sky largely rides a dual left/right Stages setup (and has done so for years), a product that is not available for purchase to consumers (nor has any timetable been stated for if they’ll ever make it available).
The point being – look at these products as “Oh, that’s interesting’, more than “Oh, I should immediately go out and buy this product because X rider is on it.” Make sense? Good.
The Teams:
We’ll get right into things. Note that as with the women’s teams, there are occasions where not all riders will be on the same exact config, especially in power meters and bike computers. Bike frames of course are almost always identical due to team sponsorships, but bike computers aren’t often covered by team sponsorships.
Also, in some cases (such as FDJ), there are prototype products in use, in which case only a single rider or two may be using that – and in some cases only for just a day or two. Meaning that while this list may be valid for Day 1 of the Tour Down Under, there are numerous examples where a team might sneak in a prototype product on just a single rider on Day 3 or Day 5. That’s often the case in the Tour de France where you’ll see companies trial prototype products in the last week or so of the race, partially to re-ignite media interest, and partially because it may not impact the standings any longer.
Note that teams are simply listed in the order (and spelling/capitalization) of the official media program.
ORICA-SCOTT:
Power Meters: SRM
Head units: SRM (mostly PC8, but not all)
Shifting: Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting
Notable: This was the only team that I saw an action cam on for this race day. Usually though, teams will alternate riders having action cams on, on differing days. Also, I could see how some teams probably wouldn’t have bothered for the People’s Choice crit, given the low-light at dusk would likely have produced less than ideal videos.
BORA – hansgrohe:
Power Meters: 4iiii Precision (dual left/right)
Head units: Garmin Edge series
Shifting: Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting
BMC RACING TEAM:
Power Meters: SRM
Head units: SRM PC8
Shifting: Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting
TEAM SUNWEB:
Power Meters: Pioneer
Head units: Giant Neostrack
Shifting: Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting
So the Giant head unit is definitely new. Or, sorta new at least. Finding any mention of it is virtually impossible, save for a single line in a team press release a few weeks ago. Upon asking the Giant folks at the Tour Down Under exhibition, they simply smiled and said more information will be out later this year.
The team’s sponsorship press release had noted:
“Team Sunweb riders are using Giant’s next-generation computer, which offers both navigation and training functions. Compatible with all training accessories, including power meters, heartrate straps, speed/cadence sensors, and smart trainers, it offers everything a pro racer needs. And its Shimano Di2 function shows real-time gearing ratios and combinations as well as battery levels. The latest NeosTrack GPS computer will be commercially available later this year.”
However, it doesn’t appear we’ll need to wait that long. As by every appearance the unit looks simply to be a rebranded Bryton 530 bike computer. You can see the external shell is identical, as are the buttons and even the button labels are virtually the same. We occasionally see teams make or re-brand versions for the pro team itself, to minimize sponsorship conflicts. But given the note in the press release about an actual product vs just a team re-brand, it looks like we’ll see something, probably launched at Eurobike or Interbike. With Giant’s massive global distribution (the biggest in the bike biz), this move could work well for Bryton.
TEAM SKY:
Power Meters: Stages power (single-leg and dual leg variant)
Head units: Garmin Edge 820
Shifting: Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting
We continue to see Stages test out dual leg variants on some Team Sky bikes. The right drive-side pods do seem a bit more polished than in years past, making them even more difficult to spot. I was only able to get a barely functional shot of one while one of the mechanics worked on the bike during the rest day. Even though, it’s super hard to pick out these days.
Finally, it’s notable that none of the riders were using the Wahoo ELEMNT, and all were using Garmin Edge 820’s. That’s because the sponsorship deal only includes the Wahoo KICKR, and not head units (or even heart rate straps this year). As the team was using the Garmin HRM straps that came bundled with the Garmin Edge 820 bundles. Just goes to show you how fickle and exacting that Pro team sponsorships can be.
TEAM DIMENSION DATA:
Power Meters: ROTOR 2INPower
Head units: Garmin Edge series, one person using Pioneer head unit.
Shifting: Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting
LOTTO-SOUDAL:
Power Meters: SRM
Head units: SRM PC8
Shifting: Campagnolo EPS Electronic Shifting
CANNONDALE-DRAPAC PRO CYCLING TEAM:
Power Meters: SRM
Head units: Garmin Edge Series
Shifting: Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting
BAHRAIN MERIDA PRO CYCLING TEAM:
Power Meters: SRM
Head units: SRM PC8
Shifting: Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting
Funny tidbit: While grabbing the above shots on Bahrain Merida, pro rider Janez Brajkovic shouted out to take the shots on his bike instead. Turns out he’s an avid DCR reader (and definite sports tech geek). He was using the Mio Fuse as his (optical) heart rate sensor, which broadcasts to his SRM head unit. He’s found it very accurate compared to a chest strap, which matches what I found as well. Mio’s Philips powered sensor and Valencell are among the best out there in the optical game.
AG2R LA MONDIALE:
Power Meters: SRM
Head units: SRM PC8
Shifting: Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting
ASTANA PRO TEAM:
Power Meters: Power2Max
Head units: Garmin Edge 820
Shifting: Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting
KATUSHA-ALPECIN:
Power Meters: Quarq
Head units: Garmin Edge Series (mostly Edge 520)
Shifting: SRAM RED eTAP Wireless Electronic Shifting
FDJ Cycling Team:
Power Meters: SRM, except 2 riders on prototype Shimano power meters
Head units: Garmin Edge 1000 & SRM
Shifting: Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting
There were a few interesting tidbits here. First of course is the continued use of prototype Shimano power meters. Since FDJ is sponsored by Shimano, that sponsorship is overriding the previous SRM sponsorship. At the Tour de France last year we saw two riders also riding the prototype Shimano power meter, so I was somewhat expecting to see more riding it here. Shimano has been targeting a spring 2017 release timeframe for that unit, but it’s simply too early to tell if they are close or not. The unit is looking much more refined than it has been in the past though.
Second, I found it interesting that a handful of the riders were equipped with SRM power meters, but no head unit to capture that data. Meaning, it wasn’t just a case of the head unit not being installed at time of photo, but rather there was no mount whatsoever on the bike. My guess is they were tossing it in the jersey pocket for such a short race, but I wondered if that was more indicative of a coaching style thing than a rider preference (given multiple rider-specific bikes were lacking them). I’ll be curious to see the rest of the week if the head units make an appearance for the longer stages.
MOVISTAR TEAM:
Power Meters: Power2Max
Head units: Garmin Edge (blend of units, mostly 510/520 series)
Shifting: Campagnolo EPS Electronic Shifting
QUICK-STEP FLOORS:
Power Meters: 4iiii Precision (dual left/right)
Head units: Mostly Edge 520
Shifting: Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting
TEAM LOTTO NL-JUMBO:
Power Meters: Pioneer
Head units: Pioneer
Shifting: Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting
UAE ABU DHABI:
Power Meters: Power2Max
Head units: Garmin Edge Series (mostly Edge 520)
Shifting: Campagnolo EPS Electronic Shifting
TREK-SEGAFREDO:
Power Meters: Some SRM, but also some bikes with none at all.
Head units: SRM PC8, even when no power meter is used
Shifting: Shimano Di2 electronic shifting
TEAM UNISA-AUSTRALIA:
Power Meters: Everything. One Quarq, one SRM, some Verve Infocrank
Head units: Mostly Garmin Edge series.
Shifting: Mixed. Mostly Shimano, blend of both electronic (Di2) and mechanical.
Of note here though is that this appears to be the only team doing a streaming data solution for all their riders. They’ve paired up with Satalyst, and are streaming all rider data live to a website (including sensor data). I’ll have more on that piece tomorrow – so hang tight!
Wrap-up:
For the most part, these units will stand as the power meters of record on these teams for the remainder of the season. Sometimes you might see some minor fluctuations around the April-May timeframe, if new models come out (i.e. in the past ROTOR introduced new models then, and pro teams moved over to them by June-ish). But otherwise, this should be considered final for the 2017 season. The only other exception to this would be I’d expect that those with complete Shimano sponsorships will shift over to Shimano power meters by the grand tours (late spring).
Though the details of those agreements aren’t usually known (or heck, in some cases, decided). So we probably won’t know till we see it on a bike.
With that – thanks for reading!
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Stay tuned for more Tour Down Under goodness! And if you missed the women’s tech round-up, be sure to catch that here.
