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Tour de France Tech – July 4, 2005, part two

Edited by John Stevenson

Got tech? Send press releases, news, and tech questions to the Cyclingnews tech desk.

Part one of today's tech round-up is here.

Lance's new 10//2 dogs	Sole of a new machine
Smilin' George Hincapie	Hincapie shows the back view

New Nike for Le Tour

Tim Maloney-European Editor in Nantes

One or two Cyclingnews reader have written to ask us "What's with the yellow hoops on Discovery's team kit?" Well, they're a signature feature of Nike and Lance Armstrong's new 10//2 clothing line which was introduced a few months ago. With Armstrong launching his final assault on the Tour de France, Nike has made a special effort to spotlight Lance's wear.

Nike's Margie Wargo showed us Lance's new Lance II shoes with the 10//2 logo and 10//2 icon, designed by New York artist Futura 2000. Taking care of the aesthetics of the new gear, Futura is one of the original New York graffiti artists and also dabbled in rap back in the 80's, collaborating with the Clash among others. He has also decorated one of Lance's Trek TTX bikes.

Lance Armstrong chats

Armstrong's new 10//2 shoes feature a special custom made carbon fibre sole with a different curvature. Lance had reportedly requested a more pronounced sole curve, similar to Shimano's carbon fibre sole.

George Hincapie and other team riders will be wearing an all new Discovery Channel team uniform at the 2005 Tour. The Swift jersey & shorts are derived from Nike's Swift TT suit. The jersey features special Y panel back and grippy fabric for better air penetration, while the shorts have the same fabric and special bibs that run off the nipple line for greater comfort.

Stuart O'Grady's Cofidis Wilier Triestina TT bike	Sleek lines
O'Grady's TT transmission	ITM aero bars

Stuart O'Grady's Team Cofidis Wilier Triestina Crono

Unlike his one-off fixed gear Wilier Triestina TT bike that Stuart O'Grady used in the Giro d'Italia's 1.15km prologue, Wilier Triestina has supplied Cofidis with new TT bicycles for the Tour de France with special carbon monocoque frames, built with a special layup process that allows Wilier Triestina to build the bike with the best balance between light weight and stiffness.

The new shape of the Wilier Triestina Crono came about from wind tunnel testing with O'Grady earlier this year to improve the CX of the frame design. Wilier Triestina weighs in at 1.2kg for a medium frame size, and O'Grady had a good ride on his new Wilier time tester yesterday in Stage 1, riding to a solid 42nd place, 1'50" behind stage winner Zabriskie.

Giro's Advantage TT helmet

Giro Atmos in new Discovery Channel livery

Giro's Tour helmets

Giro's sports marketing whiz Toshi Corbett took some time off the basketball courts in Nantes to show Cyclingnews the new graphics scheme for the Discovery Channel Advantage helmet for the Tour de France.

Toshi told Cyclingnews, "Giro has also created a new version of their Discovery Channel team issue Atmos for the 2005 Tour de France, combining black and silver carbon fiber inserts and some black contrast that fits in better with the Discovery Channel team color scheme."

New Oval aerobar

Oval lops weight off aero bar

Roberto Heras and the Liberty Seguros team rolled out in Saturday's time trial with new handlebars from sponsor Oval Concepts. The new bar is built with carbon fiber derived from Formula One technology and is claimed to be 300g lighter than Oval's previous A900 aero bar.

Front view

The wind just whistles through.

Like Oval's A900 fork, the new bar features slots in the wing sections which improve aerodynamics by limiting the break-up of the airflow over the strut.