Jetse Bol (Belkin) is a rider who likes a bar with a massive drop(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Luca Paolini (Katusha) had a Shimano Dura-Ace climber shift button mounted for the stage to Elmali. Got a decent degree of negative rise in that stem too(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Alan Marangoni’s (Cannondale)back must be as sore to need all these spacers under his stem…(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
…But Marangoni had nothing on Adrian Kurek (CCC Polsat Polkwice), who really should be reported to the spacer police(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Some say anatomic bars have no place on a road bike, but John Murphy disagrees. Classy use of a K-Edge Garmin spacer mount just for spacing purposes too(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Alessandro Petacchi’s (Omega Pharma QuickStep) cockpit: tidy. Plus he uses a Zipp bar with plenty of reach(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol) might be tall and relatively burly but he uses narrow bars – 38cm centre to centre – to help him thread through the peloton(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Race leader Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) stem marked with his rival’s position on GC. All the team’s bikes carried it on the penultimate stage(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Lampre-Merida riders had brake cable adjusters to allow them to wider to fatter aero wheels without messing about with the cable tension at the Shimano Direct Mount brakes(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Track bars on Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert)’s bike. Good man(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Guillaume Bovin (Cannondale), we’re guessing is pretty flexible: negative rise stem slammed and bars displaying a massive drop(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Guillaume Bovin (Cannondale), we’re guessing is pretty flexible: stem slammed and bars displaying a massive drop(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Guardini blocks out distracting SRM numbers too(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Nicolas Lefrancois (Novo-Nordisk) has Type 1 Diabetes and carries a computer on his stem to closely monitor blood sugar levels(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Robert Förster (United Healthcare) likes an aggressively low position aided by the negative rising Ritchey WCS stem(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Combined stem and bar combos were rare but Barry Markus (Belkin) uses a set of FSA Plasma bars with a compact drop(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
We had to include Kris Boeckmans’ (Lotto-Belisol) forward slanted Selle San Marco Regal-e saddle. It had been in the wars too(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Boeckmans’ track-style bars are wound with Lizard Skins tape(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Turkey’s roads can be as rough as, and Petr Ignatenko’s (Katusha) bars looked plush with double-wrapped tape(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
A tidy looking cockpit on Floris Goesinnen’s (Drapac) Swift Ultravox(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) taped over some of his SRM numbers – distraction not needed when trying to help his leader Rein Taaramäe claim back the leader’s jersey(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Andrea Guardini (Astana) goes for track bars that slope immediately after the flat. Levers mounted good and low too – it’s all about being aero(Image credit: Sam Dansie/BikeRadar)
Road bike cockpit set-ups are an intensely personal thing. Stem length, reach, drop, where a rider mounts the levers – even tape - all require some thought.
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Sam started as a trainee reporter on daily newspapers in the UK before moving to South Africa where he contributed to national cycling magazine Ride for three years. After moving back to the UK he joined Procycling as a staff writer in November 2010.
