Details about Swein Tuft's road bike at 2008 WC TT

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LouisN
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by LouisN

In the 2008 WC TT in Varese, Swein Tuft finished 2nd.

I watched the British Eurosport footage because I read somewhere that he finished on a regular road bike after a flat ( :noidea: ) because he only had one TT bike (he was riding at the time for a North American Continental team, Symmetrics).

Unfortunately, nobody was expecting him, not even the cameras, and we only see him for a few seconds near the finish ON A REGULAR ROAD BIKE :shock: !!! Even without handlebar extensions !!!
So I'm asking if somebody has some details where, and why he had to change bikes on the course ?
Maybe some pictures of the road bike ? Looked like a very standard setup from the footage, though I didn't see well if it had deep wheels on or anything "special"...

Louis :)

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Valbrona
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by Valbrona

I think it was just the case that he flatted in the last 5km, and the only bike on the team car was his road bike.

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GonaSovereign
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by GonaSovereign

His mechanic did a brilliant bike change, and he didn't lose much time.

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Tinea Pedis
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by Tinea Pedis

To what end Louis?

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LouisN
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by LouisN

I was just curious.
I recorded the 2008 WC TT especially to see Tuft's performance. But since apparently no one was expecting him despite his 7th place at the 2008 Olympics, they didn't even show him on the British Eurosport coverage. At some point, the show host mentioned that some "obscure" cyclist (Tuft) had the best first split times, and that he would most certainly bonk at some point.
The only time we see Tuft is at the end, for a second and a half, and when he crosses the finish line, 2 nd at 43 sec.
I was questioning myself "what if..." about a better equipped second bike, etc...and also curious about analyzing the time splits (data I don't have...). If he would have been closer to 1st place....

He came even closer to the rainbow this year (with OGE) at the WC TTT at 0.88 sec...

Louis :)

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mellowJohnny
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by mellowJohnny

And the first Canadian Lanterne Rouge! :-)

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devinci
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by devinci

IIRC at the time some numbers geeks did some calculations based on cda, splits, speed, etc and he would not have beaten Grabsch even if he would have finished on his TT bike.

According to the geeks at that time

petepeterson
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by petepeterson

Here ya go. Check out the 3 minute mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOto7BxfHns

petepeterson
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by petepeterson

Also Louis:
From your surprise at Tuft not having a back up TT bike I take it you've never done any worlds or other projects with Cycling Canada ....

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devinci
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by devinci

petepeterson wrote:Also Louis:
From your surprise at Tuft not having a back up TT bike I take it you've never done any worlds or other projects with Cycling Canada ....


LOL

hockey canada's got the budget eh!?

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LouisN
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by LouisN

Thanks for the video Pete.

What would surprise me is to learn that the bikes provided to participants in a World Championships race are furnished by national associations and not team sponsors....

Louis :)

mattr
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by mattr

Depends on the team sponsors, contracts with their equipment sponsors and the national team deal.

Until fairly recently Team GB riders more often than not would use the UKSI bikes for TTs. As they were better than just about anything else available.
(Don't know what the current deal is though.)

Also, in some cases, the riders may have more than one team bike available. But the national team will restrict the amount of equipment they can take depending on what they are riding (RR/TT) and where the race is. One road bike, one TT bike, one spare pair of wheels (for example).

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LouisN
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by LouisN

Please don't compare the British cycling program to the Canadian one....

It would be like comparing a Koenigsegg to a Skoda... :lol:


Louis :)

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mattr
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by mattr

Overpriced unreliable poseur junk Vs. world class quality on a budget?

(And FWIW, i can remember when most UK riders still had to pay their own way to any sort of international competition......its not that long ago!)

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