Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) said there was "not much more I could have done" after a bruising time trial at the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday, but there were question marks over whether he sacrificed time due to his helmet set-up.
The Austrian, who had emerged as Jonas Vingegaard's (Visma-Lease a Bike) closest challenger in the mountains of the opening week, was one of the worst GC performers in the 42km stage 10 TT, conceding 1:22 to Vingegaard and 2:28 to Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos), who has now taken his place in third place overall.
Eyebrows were raised as soon as Gall rolled down the start ramp wearing a standard pair of sunglasses, instead of the wide visor that usually comes attached to his Van Rysel time trial helmet.
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Visors have a clear aerodynamic benefit, especially when paired with ultra-wide modern TT helmets, which are expressly designed to be used with a visor.
"It was more comfortable without the visor," Gall stated bluntly when asked about the decision after coming to a halt.
Still, his response drew criticism from several pundits.
"Is time trialling about comfort?" asked Robbie McEwen in the TNT Sports studio. "If it's uncomfortable but it's faster, you do it. Time trialling is uncomfortable, it's meant to be, that's what it's all about. You've got to make every gain you possibly can, and leaving five, 10, or 20 seconds out there unnecessarily is the wrong thing to do."
It is impossible to know how much time or how many watts Gall may have sacrificed by wearing the glasses, or to what extent the added comfort balanced that out. But it was certainly an unusual choice in a sport and a discipline where every last aerodynamic advantage is fought over.
Nevermind the aerodynamics, Gall said the power going through his legs was good.
"I looked at the numbers, it was exactly how I wanted to do, yes. I don't know about the time, but the legs are definitely there.
"It was not the most pleasant experience. It was such a long TT, but I did what I could. There was not much more I could have done today. It got super long, after 30 minutes, I tried to hold on, and I did my best."
Gall now drops to fourth overall, 2:24 down on race leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), almost two minutes down on Vingegaard, and almost half a minute down on Arensman. He also faces pressure from behind, with Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla) moving to within 24 seconds of his time and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) to within 46 seconds.
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