2011 Tour de France tech: Jérôme Coppel’s Time RXRS UL Team
- By Caley Fretz
- Published Jul. 17, 2011
LIMOUX, France (VN) — Like so many young riders before him, 24-year-old Jérôme Coppel has been touted as the next “great French hope” thanks to a string of good results in the last two seasons.
A fifth in last year’s Critérium du Dauphiné, fourth at this year’s Vuelta a Andalucía, and second behind Alberto Contador at Vuelta a Murcia raised expectations heading into this year’s Tour de France.
Coppel has been realistic, though, coming into the Tour with an eye for a stage win and ambitions for a top-10 finish. While the former remains a possibility, the latter seems unlikely. He sits 22nd on GC — 13:03 down on race leader Thomas Voeckler and nearly seven minutes outside of 10th.
Coppel’s Saur-Sojasun squad, a wildcard invite to the Tour, largely thanks to his own promise as a GC contender, rides Time frames with SRAM Red, Corima wheels, Rotor cranks and FSA cockpits.
Coppel uses Rotor’s ovalized Q-Ring chainrings, along with about half of his teammates. For Sunday’s stage 15, he chose a shallow Corima Winium+ front wheel and deeper Aero+ WCC rear wheel, perhaps worried about the potential for crosswinds during the stage.
FILED UNDER: Bikes and Tech / Pro Bikes / Road / Tour de France TAGS: stage15 / tech-gallery / Tour de France
Caley Fretz
Tech Editor Caley Fretz came on board with VN in September 2010, and now splits his year between Boulder, Colorado and Annecy, France. Beyond his journalistic pursuits, he is a category 1 road, 'cross and track racer. He also holds a pro XC mountain bike license, though unlicensed racing is now more his style.