Unknownsummits atLa Vuelta aEspaña 2014THE ROUTE for this year'sVuelta a España was unveiledat the Palacio de Congresos inCádiz on January 11.

Despite some early mutter-ings that this year's editioncould well be passing throughthe Murcia region, local cyclingfans were left a little disap-pointed when it was revealedthat the closest the 'pelotón' willbe getting is stage eight, Baezato Albacete.

This almost flat 207km stage,which acts as a transition fromAndalucía to Castilla la Man-cha, will be one for the

sprinters if they cansuccessfully battleagainst the predictedcross winds that arenotorious in thatpart of the country.

The following day's stage seesthe Vuelta moving into Terueland ending with a first categoryclimb to Valdelinares.

This year's race will startfrom Jerez de la Frontera on Au-gust 23 and unlike most yearswill finish in Santiago de Com-postela and not Madrid on Sep-tember 14.

During the course of its

3,181.5 kilometres it will take in13 hill and mountain stages, fiveflat stages, one team and one in-dividual time trial and will passover a total of 40 summits.

This year's edition containseight summit finishes, four lessthan last year, but race director,Javier Guillén said of the route:"We continue with what works,we have our model for theVuelta, our own personality.

"People know that we supportthe mountains, look for un-known finishes and mix noveltywith tradition. This countryoffers great places to make agood stage race."

He added that the race has

four unknown summit finishes.So, although it will not be

passing our front doors, afterlast year's epic, the race stillcontains that mystery elementthat has seen its status con-tinue to grow year after year.

Page 99COSTA NEWS, January 24-30, 2014

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BIKEFIT expert and graduatesports therapist Nicholas Dins-dale (member of The Society ofSports Therapists) examines thelatest philosophy surroundingcrank length and the latestscience. The purpose of this ar-ticle is not to provide recommen-dations on given crank lengths,but to increase awareness,thereby enabling the cyclist tomake better informed decisions.

Traditional philosophyFor many, the idea 'longer is bet-ter' has long prevailed amongstcyclists, coaches and bikefitters.This philosophy has been basedon experience and intuitionrather than science. Traditionallychoice of crank length has beenbased on the cyclist's height or in-seam leg-length. While variousformulae exist their reliability re-mains questionable. For unknownreasons new road bikes usuallycome with crank lengths of170mm or 172.5mm. Mountain-bikes are usually supplied with175mm crank length, supposedlyto provide more leverage. Roadtime-trialists often choose longercrank lengths, typically 175mm or180mm in the belief of improvedpower output.

What does theresearch say?

Although research is sparse,traditional philosophy is beingchallenged, especially amongsttriathletes. As a result of thegrowing evidence, many elitetriathletes are moving towardsshorter crank lengths with sig-nificant improvements in per-formance. The question is why?In 2001, Martin and Spirdusotested 16 race cyclists (of variousheights). They performed maxi-mal sprint power across a rangeof crank lengths between (145mmto 195mm). Surprisingly, theyfound that maximum power out-put and metabolic cost was unaf-fected over the range of cranklengths. More recently (2011),

Crank length: Is longer better?Martin and colleagues carried asimilar study and substantiatedtheir previous findings. They con-cluded stating that both studiessuggest that cyclists are now freeto choose crank length on othercriteria other than height.

In 2010, Mcdermid and Ed-wards carried out a study on well-trained female cross-countrymountain bike riders. The aimwas to compare various perform-ance measurements while usingdifferent crank lengths (170mm,172.5 and 175mm). Similar to (Mar-tin, 2001) they also found poweroutput and endurance perform-ance remained unaffected acrossthe range of crank lengths. How-ever, the time taken to reach maxi-mal peak power was muchshorter for the 170mm comparedwith the 175mm crank. This sug-gests a potential race advantagedue to the ability to respondquickly (accelerate) to changes interrain when using the shortercrank 170mm.

Pedalling kinematics Let's look how changes in cranklength affect our pedalling tech-nique and muscle activity. Weknow that changes in crank lengthchange the range of motion of thehip and knee joint and change ca-dence (RPM). The effect of chang-ing crank length from 175mm to165mm will increase the rate of ca-dence by 5%, about the same per-centage as the change in cranklength. The loss in leverage is takenup by an increase in cadence. Co-incidentally, this difference (5%)equates to the difference between a'compact' 50 tooth chainring com-pared with a 53 chainring, likewisethe difference between 20 and 21teeth on your rear cassette. Whilecadence is affected (5%) foot speed(and muscle fibre shortening veloc-ity) remains unaffected. What doesthis tell us? Well, 5mm change incrank length means only a smallamount of adaptation is required,in return for potential benefits,about to be highlighted.

Potential implicationsAlthough research is sparse andremains inconclusive let's try andmake some sense of it and see ifwe can derive some practicablebenefits. We know that longercranks increase the range of mo-tion at the hip and knee joint. Thisincreased range of motion placesjoints in a more flexed position,which in turn, increases com-pressive loads on the joint sur-faces. Therefore, cyclists withexisting hip or knee problems,common in older cyclists, maywell benefit from shorter cranks.Many riders claim to have becomesymptom free after moving toshorter cranks.

Studies and numerous windtunnel tests have unequivocallyshown that a lower bar positionimproves aerodynamics by re-ducing the drag factor. We alsoknow that shorter cranks openup the crucial 'hip-angle', whichallows the cyclist to lower thebar position, crucially with noloss in power output. Improvedaerodynamics means fasterground speeds for a given poweroutput. Many elite triathletesand some time-trialists alreadyenjoy this potential benefit. Thehip-angle represents the anglebetween the thigh and the torso.A reduction in crank length of5mm equates to 5 degree in-crease in hip-angle. Changes incrank length necessitate achange in saddle height e.g.5mm shorter crank requires5mm increase in saddle height.

ConclusionWithin a range, there appears tobe no power loss or metabolic costwhen using shorter crank lengths- but shorter cranks can offer im-proved aerodynamics and quickeracceleration. Shorter rather thanlonger cranks reduce stress onjoint surfaces. Ideally, some ex-perimentation in crank lengthwould be desirable - but could becostly as cranks can be an expens-ive purchase.