Why an American team at the Tour de France bought its leader 21 of the world's fastest bicycle chains

Advertisement

CeramicSpeed UFO chain Rolland bike TdF

Daniel McMahon / Business Insider

Frenchman Pierre Rolland, the leader of the American Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team, warms down on a stationary trainer after a stage in the Tour de France. Rolland is using a special low-friction chain, made by CeramicSpeed, that his team hopes will improve his performance over the three-week race.

Advertisement

ARCALIS, Andorra, July 12 - Every second counts in the Tour de France, and so does every watt.

The 1989 Tour underlined that fact when after three weeks, 2,041 miles, and 87 hours 38 minutes and 35 seconds of racing American Greg LeMond won by 8 seconds. That time it was thanks in part to LeMond's use of aero bars, at the time a new technology in pro cycling.

Another example can be seen in the efforts made by the US-based Cannondale-Drapac team, which has done what it can to ensure its leader, Pierre Rolland, performs his best. Like LeMond, the team looked to the latest advances in technology.

So in addition to modernizing Rolland's training program - team boss Jonathan Vaughters observed that Rolland had been "training like it was 1975" before joining Cannondale-Drapac - the team has purchased state-of-the-art cooling mattress toppers from ChiliPad and bought 21 specially treated chains and rear-derailleur pulley systems from CeramicSpeed. Here's what they are all about:

Advertisement