Cycling at 100km/h like Mader: the risks – Corriere.it

The on-board computer of Magnus Sheffield, the New Yorker rider who emerged unscathed from the fall in the Tour of Switzerland in which Gino Mader sadly lost his life, froze at 94 km/h at the point of the accident. That of the winner of the fifth stage of the Tour of Switzerland, Joan Ayuso, touched (according to the images on the speedometer of the bike following him) 100 km/h on the final descent of the Albula Pass. Then there are the 100.8 km/h recorded on the computer by Romain Bardet, an excellent downhill skier, also on the Albula.

On the day of Gino Mader’s death, the general public realizes how dangerous cycling can be and how fast professionals go downhill riding bikes that weigh just 6,800 grams and rest on two tires that are only 23/25 millimeters wide . The amazement is sincere, but high speeds are a standard. The maximum I’ve achieved in my career,” he explains Damian Caruso, that di Mader was captain in Bahrain — 106 km/h in a descent of the Tour de Romandie. We were in a group, so in an even more risky situation. How fast you go you only realize when you download the computer data, on the road you only think about being concentrated. Cycling is risky, if you don’t risk, you leave.

The danger, downhill, represented by blind curves, the state of the asphalt, gravel on the ground, errors by those who follow or precede you, guardrails that close off escape routes and risks taken when overtaking: in Mader’s case, probable error by the rider perhaps favored by the lack of visibility on the direction of the curve. The speed must be interpreted in a relative way. In his phenomenal, crazy descent from the Col du Galibier at the 2022 Tour de France, British tightrope walker Tom Pidcock pedaled for half an hour at an average speed of 55, reaching peaks of 86 km/h, 15 less than Ayuso, but reaching risk levels much higher than those of the Albula Pass due to the tortuosity of the descent, as can be clearly seen in the live TV video.

Among the elements that make descents much safer today than in the past, in addition to the better state of the roads, the adoption of front and rear disc brakes which (once metabolized by the rider) allow you to set the curves with surgical precision by breaking away at the last moment. Instead, they are there to make things more difficultstiffness of full carbon frames and forks, which on the one hand make the bike snappier, on the other hand penalize driving precision in difficult moments. One of the almost insurmountable difficulties arises from the fact that, for top riders, the saddle position uphill should be much higher to push better, while the downhill position should move the center of gravity lower for better safety. Since it is impossible to change bikes in order not to waste time, a more practical solution is to mount an electronically adjustable telescopic seat post like the one that allowed the Slovenian Mohoric to win the Milan-Sanremo. A tool still little used.