Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez of Team Katusha celebrates after winning the Fleche Wallonne(Image credit: AFP)
Joaquím Rodríguez (Katusha) in the wind tunnel(Image credit: Katusha Cycling Team)
A front view of Joaquím Rodríguez (Katusha) in the wind tunnel(Image credit: Katusha Cycling Team)
Joaquim Rodriguez has spent time in the wind tunnel working on his time trial position with the Katusha sports scientist and head coach Sebastian Weber this week.
The Spaniard spent an intense morning in the same wind tunnel in Silverstone, in the south of England, used by the Mercedes Amg Petronas Formula one team. He tested various handlebar, helmet and wheel combinations as he looked to improve his aerodynamics.
Rodriguez lost the 2012 Giro d'Italia in the final time trial stage to Ryder Hesjedal. He will focus on the Tour de France this year and knows that the two individual time trials and the team time trial will play a major role in deciding who wins the 100th edition of Le Tour.
"We worked mostly on positioning a new handlebar setup and some tests with different setup of front wheel, helmet configuration and so on," Weber said.
"I found quite a lot of stuff I should improve. Some minor improvements will come shortly, while the major changes in position will take some time. For this reason we will adapt his TT training bike with the new position - on and off bike training. Also Canyon will adapt the handlebar for him."
It was Rodriguez's first ever visit to Britain. He seemed to enjoy it, tweeting: "The first time ever in my life I'm in England!! Unbelievable that everybody I speak with looks like as if they had came out of Top Gear!!"
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