A French summer fairy tale
The gebioMized view on the Tour de France 2019
Anyone who knows us will probably confirm it: normally, we at gebioMized have the gift of the gab. But even after some hours have passed, we still look back speechless on what was going on in France (and on the first stages also in Belgium) during the past three weeks. For a long time, we didn’t perceive the Tour de France to be as exciting, as thrilling, as intense as this year. And not only because we were involved as official partner of three teams, we want to draw a short conclusion at this point.
It all started in Brussels with a bang. The newly crowned German time trial champion Tony Martin pulled his Jumbo Visma express train to victory in the team time trial on 2nd stage. On board: Finest handicraft from our gebioMized workshop in Münster. Because Tony Martin has been swearing by our custom-made insoles in his racing shoes for years – for full power on the pedal instead of pressure in the shoe. Due to his effort Tony Martin also helped his team mate Mike Teunissen to defend the Yellow Jersey.
A jersey that would play a big role for gebioMized, too. Just a few days later a young Italian from the Vosges took over the overall lead of the Tour de France: Giulio Ciccone of Team Trek-Segafredo. We have a close, long-standing and successful partnership with the team, which by Ciccone’s two days in the Yellow Jersey has gained another highlight.
Mitchelton-Scott turns it on
The Italian hardly had handed over the much-wanted piece of cloth to France’s new national hero Julian Alaphilippe when the Mitchelton-Scott team began to burn down real fireworks. First Daryl Impey sprinted to an escape group’s victory on the 9th stage in Brioude. Then Simon Yates crowned himself king of the Pyrenees with his impressive victories in Bagnères-de-Bigorre (12th stage) and Foix (15th stage). Finally, European champion Matteo Trentin triumphed on the 17th stage from Pont du Gard to Gap. On the last climb up to the Col de Sentinelle, he moved away from the escape group and raced to victory in an inimitable manner.
In winter and spring, we had been working diligently on the riding positions of the fast guys of Team Mitchelton-Scott as their official bike fitting partner. And nothing tastes sweeter than harvesting such successes.
Mr. Bernal, please take over!
But there was more to harvest. Much more. Because when the fight for the podium ranks in Paris became tougher kilometer by kilometer, the youngest rider in the entire peloton took command. Already since the end of the 10th stage Egan Bernal had been wearing the white jersey of the best young professional (with a small interruption on stage 14) on his narrow shoulders. But on the memorable “short stage” no. 19 over the Col d’Iseran, the 22-year-old Colombian of Team Ineos left behind the entire competition – except for Simon Yates – and took possession of the Yellow Jersey. A jersey which he defended confidently on the following stage up to Val Thorens, which was also shortened, and a jersey which he proudly wore on the stage to Paris one day later. At his side on the bike and on the podium in Paris: team mate and last year’s winner Geraint Thomas. What a triumph.
Of course, we knew from our work as technical partner of Team Ineos how strong the riders are. But the bad crash of Chris Froome before the Critérium du Dauphiné cycling race and the DNF of Geraint Thomas at the Tour de Suisse had not failed to leave their marks on us.
Winners are made in autumn
All in all, the preparations went according to plan. Last autumn we began to optimize Egan Bernal’s position biomechanically, when the squad was still known by their famous name: Team Sky. In several sessions we improved Egans power transmission and placed him more stable on his saddle. We started in the gebioMized concept-lab, then we took a close look at the aerodynamics in the Velodrom together with our partners from STAPS and finally improved further details in the training camps. Here, too, our custom-made insoles for racing shoes were one of many small but important details on the road to success.
We furthermore confidently accompanied an important step that the team took during the season. No, not the change of name from Team Sky to Team Ineos, but the change to the new Dogma F12 road bike model of bike sponsor Pinarello. Switching to a new bike can literally upset some professionals. But it was not an issue for Egan Bernal and Co.
Millions of cycling fans from all over the world witnessed the result of our joint work live on site and above all on screen: An incredibly strong Colombian, who sat super stable on his saddle.
Early work for a great future
It doesn’t take much to predict a great future for Egan Bernal. But it’s important to see how much his team’s decision to put a strong emphasis on biomechanics so early in Bernal’s career has contributed. Because the Colombian is not only very young, he also switched to road bikes comparatively late. Therefore, his movement patterns are not yet as ingrained and can be changed more easily – towards the best possible riding position.
We are proud that we were part of this Tour de France. We are proud of the great performances of our partners on these almost 3,500 kilometers between Brussels and Paris. Congratulations to the winner, to the riders wearing the leader’s jersey in the points and mountain classification and of course to all the athletes who reached the finish line on the Champs-Élysées.
We will now sit back for a moment and toast the second overall victory in the past three Grand Tours. And then the tingling, the excitement, the anticipation of the 2020 Tour de France will start again very soon. And, of course, our work with some of the best cyclists on the planet. After all, we have a jersey to defend.
