We have seen how the Tour de France we are about to face has been designed by the organisers to be very hard and to say the least spectacular. On a technical level, the members of the Total Direct Energie Pro Cycling Team will face a start with a few sprints and several uphill spurts, and will then be put to the test toward mid-September on the terrible arrivals at high altitude in the French Alps. Only those cyclists with good legs will make it: indeed, they are the ones who will compete for the yellow jersey in the only time trial, among other things uphill, before the final laps in Paris. Which wheels will support our team members' efforts?
For the Tour, the Total Direct Energie Pro Cycling Team has selected the carbon wheel sets for racing bikes from the TS evo line (obviously in the version for disc brake, which is now to all intents and purposes a standard for road cycling).
We mean thoroughly tried and tested 24 mm tubular full carbon wheel rims, suitable for different types of routes. On their Wilier Triestina, the cyclists from the transalpine team will in fact alternate between 37 mm rims (Miura TS37 evo disc) designed for endurance-type routes that include various differences in height, and 50 mm rims (Miura TS47 evo disc) which are often chosen for mixed tracks with certain fast segments. In short, depending on the type of terrain each day, each specialist will try to pick the right set-up that can best emphasise their characteristics.
Whatever the choice of each individual team member, they will have a top of the range product at their disposal. In fact, the Ursus R&D department developed all the wheels of the TS evo line, taking into account the needs of the best champions in at least fifteen years of intensive use at professional level. To meet their needs, Ursus tried to pack the wheels in this segment with the most appealing balance between light weight (always relevant when it comes to racing), rigidity and reliability.
Rigidity in particular is very important to guarantee the best performance levels on a bicycle. The wheels need to be able to form a system that is as integrated as possible with the bike, providing the stability required to avoid losing power when pushing.
Thanks to the presence of the hub with a through pin, with the Miura TS37 Evo disc, long-distance racers and climbers like Calmejane can experience spectacular responsiveness and manoeuvrability of the bike, especially when cornering, circumstances in which other wheel models suffer more from lateral stresses. The full carbon rim on our wheels has a 37 mm profile, a size which constitutes an excellent solution in the challenging mountain stages such as the Grand Colombier (stage 15). Indeed, the wheel needs to be high enough to provide the cyclist with aerodynamic support, but at the same time it needs to remain ridable in side wind conditions.
As for the Miura TS47 Evo Disc this was designed for race situations with less notable differences in height, where we can easily envisage a sprint arrival more in the style of a sprinter such as our Bonifazio.
This could be the case, for instance, of the opening stage of Nice-Nice, 156 km mostly flat, to be covered around the French Riviera town. Here, the aerodynamic package applied to the 50 mm profile will certainly provide that extra something to achieve a stage victory, a goal which the twenty-six year-old from Cuneo shares with the entire team.
Even when moving off, the wheels of the Miura TS Evo Disc segment behave quite well, reducing energy dispersion between the pedal and the hub to a minimum. For the rider, all this means that the explosive power developed during the race can be kept more constant, gaining valuable seconds in the general classification. Either standing on the pedals, or getting ready for the decisive sprint: this is where the champions of the Total Direct Energie Pro Cycling Team will perceive all the smoothness of Ursus wheels.
The absolute quality of the hub is the real secret behind the success of these Ursus models. Our hubs have consistently been tested and developed over the years and have achieved a level of construction precision that really makes a difference. It is only by trying them that an expert cyclist will be able to perceive the absolute absence of play between their components, a feature which has been made possible by numerical control production that renders the tolerance levels on each individual piece infinitesimal.
In this overview, we were able to discover something more about Ursus carbon wheels for racing bikes used by the Total Direct Energie Pro Cycling Team, comparing their characteristics in various race conditions and identifying some typical stages in which they could make a difference. All we have to do now is sit back and cheer our boys on, safe in the knowledge that we have done a great job once more. Once again, enjoy the Tour de France everyone!