- Motor vehicles within professional bike races
are a hot topic right now.
But aside from the safety issue,
there are a number of pros who are concerned
with the influence they are having on the outcome of races.
In fact, a few high-profile riders
have publicly vented their frustration
this year on social media.
Amongst them, Andre Greipel, Dan Martin,
Sep Vanmarcke, and Tosh Van der Sande.
The question is though,
how much difference do motos really make?
We thought it was time for an experiment.
- [Matt] Yeah, we're gonna do multiple runs
along a fairly flat section of quiet road
that's just over two kilometres in length.
We're going to do each run at exactly the same speed,
around 43 kilometres an hour,
and measure the average power each time.
- [Dan] For the first two runs,
I'm going to ride without anything in front of me,
i.e., into clean air.
For the second two, I will ride around five metres
behind our camera motorbike.
And for the final two runs,
I'll ride at around 10 metres behind the moto.
- [Matt] I will then do the same,
but in the reverse order of Dan,
after which we shall analyse the results
and see what, if anything, the difference was.
(driving pop music)
- Right, I ended up with about 43 Ks per hour average,
just under three minutes, 2:55 for that,
and an average power of 319 watts.
So, let's do that again and then get pacey.
(driving pop music)
That is so much easier.
I enjoyed that.
(driving pop music)
The results are in,
and you will see the numbers trickling down
in a graphic on the screen at the moment.
But in terms of the percentage differences,
for me, when I was five metres behind the bike,
I had an average saving of just under 20%.
And when I was 10 metres behind the bike,
I still had a significant saving of 11.5%.
I've done the calculations for you as well,
just so I make sure they're right.
The percentage difference at five metres behind the bike
for you is slightly less than me, 17.3%.
But at 10 metres,
you also had a significant saving of 10.6%,
which is more, much more than I was expecting, actually.
I thought it would make a difference,
but maybe not 10% at 10 metres.
It does feel like a long way behind it, doesn't it?
- I know, when I sat behind at 10 metres,
it was like, "That is a long way away,"
and you actually wouldn't even think in a race situation
that you're actually particularly close,
but you're clearly cutting through the air
far more efficiently, even at that distance.
- Yeah, and I think there's a couple of things also
to bear in mind.
Firstly, that we were doing it at our speed, 43 Ks an hour.
Nevertheless, at the crunch point of big races,
those pros on a similar road
would be doing upwards of 55 kilometres per hour.
And the other thing is that we did it behind one motorbike.
Now, if you look at the overhead shots
from the biggest races in the world,
when key riders are making their attacks,
there'll be multiple motorbikes
and sometimes even cars not too far in front,
and that must make a huge difference.
The speed and the number of motos
in terms of difference to what we've done today,
you'd imagine that the raw power
and even the percentages is much greater.
- Oh, without a shadow of a doubt.
Essentially like an armada
or a flotilla of vehicles basically
you're faced with rather than one, but there you go.
- [Dan] So, we've concluded it makes a big difference.
Do we have a solution to the problem?
- Well, as ever, we don't have a solution,
but we have presented some pretty interesting data
to ponder upon, and it does make you think,
where does the responsibility lie?
Is it with the motorcyclists themselves?
Is it with bike riders?
Is it with the race organisers?
Do you know what, I think it's a collective decision
that we all need to play a part in, personally.
- Yeah, I've been thinking exactly the same thing
whilst you were doing your last couple of runs.
We need to have the motorbikes there.
There is the safety part of it,
but that's a completely separate thing
and not what we were trying to achieve today.
But we do need a motorbike still to provide us with pictures
for our television coverage.
We also need our riders there
to provide us with still pictures as well.
So, we do need vehicles.
I do wonder if we need less of them
and that they need some more instruction
as to how far in front they have to be.
However, they can't have their eyes on their wing mirrors
at all times, so I think, like you,
that there has to be some responsibility from the riders
to say, "Look, if there is a motorbike
"that's near enough to gain an advantage from,
"we go on the other side of the road."
And that wouldn't always be possible
when there's corners and there's only one racing line,
but on a big straight road,
when you're trying to catch the breakaway,
ride into the wind; don't ride behind the motorbike.
- And I think it's fair to say,
I mean, both of us have raced at a reasonable level,
there's been many occasions I can remember
when I've seen the motorbike go,
I've come in the position where I wanna attack,
and I would generally follow the motorcycle,
and quite often I'll follow it across the road and weave
so I can stay in that slipstream.
So, I've done it before, I know you've done it before,
it's just about, I think,
potentially changing our kind of mindsets.
But again, who's gonna be the referee
in those sorta situations?
Is it gonna be the commissaire
or is it gonna be one of those unwritten rules?
Fascinating. - It will be very difficult
because it is second nature to some,
'cause you're almost computerised to take advantage
of sheltering from the wind whenever you can.
Anyway, I think all we can say
is that there is a lot of food for thought,
because it does seem like motos
potentially are affecting the outcome of races.
- And do you know what?
We'd actually love to hear what you think of the subject,
what are your ideas as well,
so stick 'em in the comment section down below.
And if you haven't already subscribed to GCN,
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- Now, a couple of videos
that you might be interested in watching now.
There are, of course,
cases where slipstreaming is legitimate,
and that is behind other riders,
and we show you how to ride on the wheel just down here.
- Or, if you click just down here,
me and Dan found out in very sunny and hot Andorra
what difference weight makes when riding uphill.
It's quite a lot, isn't it?
- It was.
It was also significant.
- Significant results, yet again.