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The dramatic increase in average speeds in elite cycling can be partly attributed to the demand from riders for higher gear ratios, which equipment manufacturers have made available. Where will this end?
By Guillaume Judas – Photo: ©3bikes.fr
In just over forty years, high-end bikes—such as those used by professional riders—have gone from six to twelve sprockets on the rear wheel. They still have two chainrings, which now theoretically offers about fifteen different gear ratios when taking possible overlaps into account. Such a wide range of gear ratios increases the bikes’ versatility in both directions.
While today’s riders climb mountain passes at a higher cadence than in the past, they can also ride much faster on descents, slight downhill gradients, or on flat terrain, thanks to high gear ratios that were completely unimaginable at the end of the last century.
“Thanks to 12-speed cassettes, we always have the right gear ratio to meet the demands of the terrain, without having to make any compromises,” the recently retired Philippe Gilbert told us recently. “At the start of my career, mechanics still had to change the cassette on the bikes depending on the course, but that’s practically unnecessary today.”
More and More
This increased versatility of modern drivetrains is a key selling point for the major equipment manufacturers, led by Shimano, SRAM, and Campagnolo.
“When we launched our cassettes with a small 10-tooth cog in 2019—which was completely unprecedented at the time—our goal was to increase the gear range for all riders, regardless of their skill level,” says Jason Fowler, category manager at SRAM. “With smaller sprockets and a smaller chainring set, there’s a greater difference between the maximum and minimum gear ratios, while reducing the gaps between each gear on the cassette. This is a win-win for cyclists in general.”
But very quickly, this solution of smaller chainrings (46, 48, or 50 teeth) proved unsatisfactory for professional riders equipped by the American brand, who demanded more traditional chainrings of 52, 54, and even 56 teeth to maintain their pedaling habits, while still using a cassette with a small 10-tooth sprocket.
“The requests depend a bit on each team and their preferred terrain,” continues Jason Fowler. “At Movistar, for example, we get a lot of requests for the 52-39 chainring combination and a 10-33 cassette. At Lidl-Trek, it’s usually 54-41 chainrings, except for Mads Pedersen, who often uses a 56!”
56/10: a gear ratio equivalent to a 62/11 or a 67/12. Connoisseurs will appreciate it. “ The chainring combination chosen by the pros doesn’t depend on the maximum gear ratio they need, but rather on the gear ratio they’re most comfortable with on the cassette,” explains John Cordoba, product manager for the Specialized Roubaix and a staunch advocate of the 10-tooth cassette. With a large chainring, they can use a high gear ratio while keeping the chain centered on the cassette, for better drivetrain efficiency. This is also what we see on time-trial bikes, which use chainrings with 58, 60, or even 62 teeth, most often paired with 13- and 14-tooth sprockets. But of course, as soon as the course goes downhill or there’s a strong tailwind, they don’t hesitate to use their highest gear ratio, thereby gaining a lot of speed.”
“With a high gear ratio, riders have realized they can ride fast in the peloton more consistently, producing fewer power spikes that ultimately cost a lot of energy,” explains Guillaume Girout, a former pro and CEO of Dagg, a company that imports and designs bicycles and cycling apparel. “This allows them to conserve energy for the crucial phases of the race.” Whether to create gaps or to keep up with the overall pace, high gear ratios seem to be the norm for everyone, though it’s unclear whether the conditions or the riders themselves are driving this trend.
Evolution of Equipment and Racing Conditions
The use of these very high gear ratios had already begun in the mid-2010s, before the advent of 12-speed drivetrains. “On some flat stages of the Tour de France, I sometimes have to use a large chainring with 54 or 55 teeth because the pace is so fast,” revealed Tony Gallopin in 2018, who wore the yellow jersey at the 2014 Tour de France.
“On the Tour, the speeds reached are incredible for many reasons,” Yoann Offredo, a former pro and now a consultant for France Télévisions, told us at the time. “We ride most of the time on perfectly resurfaced asphalt; there are spectators almost everywhere along the route who provide some protection from the wind, and a huge number of cars leading the way. All of this creates a sort of slipstream effect, to which we can even add all the unique challenges surrounding this race, which make us go faster. So we have to adjust our gear ratios.”
“I spent most of my career using a 53-tooth chainring,” adds Kevin Reza, who was a professional from 2011 to 2021. “But after the first Covid-related hiatus in August 2020, I noticed a significant increase in overall speed. I had to use a 55-tooth chainring on the Tour de France that followed, especially for the stage on the Champs-Élysées.”
Added to these specific conditions are advancements in equipment, which is becoming increasingly high-performance, with greater stiffness and aerodynamics, whether on the road or on the track. To meet riders’ demands, Shimano replaced the standard 53-39 chainring combination with a 54-40 set when it released its latest high-end drivetrain groupset in 2021, chainsets used by many stars of the peloton, such as Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, Tom Pidcock, Geraint Thomas, and Julian Alaphilippe, while Tadej Pogacar prefers a 55-tooth chainring.
“On the track, a milestone was reached in terms of gear ratios after the 2012 London Olympics,” says Mathieu Jeanne, national para-cycling coach. Riders have gradually shifted to larger gears thanks to the aerodynamic gains of the bikes, but also because it was within their physical capabilities. Within most of the delegations from the major cycling nations, athletes are now profiled, and for many of them, we’ve realized that they generate more power with higher gear ratios. In the team pursuit, for example, the goal is now an average cadence of 103 to 105 revolutions per minute, whereas previously it was above 110—and even 120 for Philippe Ermenault, world champion in 1997 and 1998, and the 1996 Olympic team pursuit champion. Today, his son Corentin, whom I coach, uses gear ratios ranging from 63 to 69/15 depending on the velodrome in the individual pursuit, and from 63 to 69/14 in the team pursuit. Even though the speeds are slightly lower, we follow a similar approach with para-athletes, depending on their disability, of course. To be able to handle such gear ratios, riders do a lot of maximum-strength weight training, even in the so-called endurance categories. This allows them to better engage their highest gear at the start.”
Riders have gradually shifted to higher gear ratios thanks to the aerodynamic improvements in bikes, but also because it was within their physical capabilities. — Mathieu Jeanne, national para-cycling coach
Psychological Barriers Are Falling
For Jean-François Guiborel, coach and ambassador for the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome and a keen observer of track cycling for nearly 50 years, the shift took place in the early 2000s, at least for sprinters: “Florian Rousseau, who won several world and Olympic titles in the late 1990s, was already using a slightly higher gear ratio than the Trentin/Morelon era in the 1960s and 1970s. But training methods have evolved, and sprinters began doing a lot of strength training—even before endurance riders did. In just a few years, psychological barriers came down. When I was starting out, we were fixated on the idea that on the track, you had to focus on speed—and speed alone. Eddy Merckx and his contemporaries were content with a 52/16 gear ratio in the Six-Day races—well below their actual capabilities—whereas today riders use a gear ratio around 60/15 in American races or points races. Even at 70, I’m posting times in training that make me want to race again in the Masters category, using a 52/15 gear ratio—which is higher than what I used on the French national team when I was 20. Even among the amateurs in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, we’re following the lead of the elite riders. Some have made great progress, but others bite off more than they can chew. Not everyone has the ability to handle such high gear ratios—or at least, there’s a balance to be found.”
This trend toward higher gear ratios isn’t limited to adult cyclists. In France, gear ratios have been unrestricted for Cadets (U17) since early 2022—a decision made well after other countries, to adapt to the demands of modern cycling.
“We’re discovering that the human body can generate more power than we previously thought,” adds Jean-François Guiborel. “But we still have to be careful with young riders, especially when they’re still growing. I see kids who are setting themselves up to be ‘diesel’ riders for their entire careers, always using gears that are too high and forgetting to work on speed as well. This isn’t the case for riders who compete in road, track, and cyclocross—and who, as a result, are used to riding at high cadences while also specifically working on strength, of course.”
Overcome psychological barriers, more modern training methods, more athletic riders, and higher-performance equipment seem to explain the increase in gear ratios in recent years, both at the elite level and among aspiring champions.
How far will this go? “This increase in gear ratios will stop when speeds plateau—that is, when we’ve reached the limits of human and equipment capabilities,” concludes Mathieu Jeanne. If we go by the records that keep falling, that doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon.”
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