Tour Tech: Gearing up for the final race against the clock of the 2012 Tour de France

Easton built up shallower EC90 Aero rims with Easton's narrow R4 hubs for the BMC squad. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

EC90 TT rim, same as a regular EC90 Aero rim. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

The deep EC90 TT wheels. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Narrow downtube and Elite aero bottle. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

George Hincapie's ride for this final Tour de France TT. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Careful Di2 wiring and brain placement. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Clean Di2 routing. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Another Corima trispoke. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

The front-end setup of the Astana Shivs. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

A lineup of Time RXR machines with a variety of Corima wheels. The UP S and HM trispoke were the most common. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Go-fast (or slow) buttons. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Adjustable stem on a Time RXR, used with Vision Trimax integrated bars. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Campagnolo Bora Ultra 80 on the front of Jelle Vanendert's Ridley. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Front end of the Lotto-Belisol Ridley Dean. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Deda bar setup, with Campagnolo's new EPS TT shifters. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Tight fit. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

A 54/44 chainring combo on Jelle Vanendert's bike. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Hidden rear brake on the Dean. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Short saddles are a must for many riders, who struggle to fit themselves within the UCI limits. Selle San Marco's Concor Sprint is only 26cm long, and was all over the place in the start paddocks on Saturday. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Clever battery placement on the Felt DA. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Saxo Bank runs their Shivs with Zipp 808 and disc wheels, and old SRAM Red. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

It's been a long three weeks. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Lotto-Belisol has been using the new Lazer Wasp TT helmet this Tour. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Prototype Specialized tubular on the back of Kevin De Weert's rig. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

The Osymetric ovalized chainrings are popular on Sky. Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome both use them. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Sky uses an array of front wheels depending on rider and course conditions. This is a custom-built Hed Stinger 9 rim with a Dura-Ace hub. The team also uses Shimano's new C75 wheels, and both Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome ride a Hed H3 trispoke for most TT days. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

A Hed disc out back. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

The new Mavic CXR80 wheel and special tire, but without the extra strip Mavic developed. It hasn't been legalized by the UCI, and likely won't be. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

The Reynolds RZR 92.2 wheels used by AG2R were the deepest used on Saturday. They feature a 92.2mm carbon tubular rim, carbon spokes and a carbon hub shell. AG2R often runs them front and rear, rather than using a disc. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Some riders are all about being low. Check out that adjustable stem, placing the Deda bars very nearly on top of the front wheel. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Reynolds RZR 92.2 carbon hub. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Slick 3T bar setup. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Skinny fork and hydraulic brake. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Creative use of the UCI's rules relating to gussets allowed Cervélo to make a few of its tube junctions fall outside the 3:1 ratio. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Chunky. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Rotor's new Flow aero cranks are sleek looking. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

The front end of the P5, with Magura's hydraulic rim brake. Mechanics hacked the buttons off a Shimano Di2 bullhorn shifter and glued them onto the right Magura brake lever, so Garmin riders can still shift the rear derailleur from either hand position. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

With the bars turned sideways, the careful shaping and integration of fork and stem are even more obvious. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Excellent battery placement on the Orica Plasmas. The Prologo Nago EVO TTR is a popular TT saddle within the pro ranks. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Shimano's newest C75 rim and 9000-series hub on the front of a GreenEdge machine. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Lampre uses older mechanical Campagnolo and a combination of Fulcrum discs, XLR 80 and Race Speed XLR wheels on its Wilier Twinfoil TT rigs. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

UCI approved. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Another Selle San Marco Sprint saddle, perfect for keeping a bike within UCI regulations. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Integrated brakes on the Twinfoil. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

The front end is clean, but looks wide. Wilier says the channels in between the fork legs and head tube are faster than a headtube alone. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Most of Lampre's riders used these Fulcrum XLR80 wheels for the final time trial. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Neat cable routing. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

A little channel under the seatpost on the Aerostorm. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

PRO bars from Shimano, with Di2 bullhorn and extension shifters. All the cables run straight into the head tube, a tidy solution. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

FDJ's Thibault Pinot held onto his top-10 aboard a Lapierre Aerostorm. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Shimano's new C50 wheels were popular throughout the Tour. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

The Aerostorm offers a bunch of extra saddle adjustability in the form of a fore-aft adjustment of the seatpost itself. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Clean. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

The brake cover used on the Speed Concept is UCI legal because the entire structure, headtube and cover, still falls within the 3:1 ratio. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

An aero Bontrager bottle, placed on the seat tube for Saturday's long time trial. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Bontrager's Aeolus 9 wheels are among the deepest available. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

If riders don't pick a tiny saddle like the Fizik Ares, then they usually go with a snub-nosed option like this Bontrager to keep within the UCI rules. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Trek's downtube Kamm tail. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

A clean front end. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

The rear wheel is hugged tightly on the Giant Trinity. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Laurens Ten Dam uses a behind-the-saddle bottle cage. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

The brake housing enters the front of the integrated stem and hides inside the small nose cone. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Color-coordinated front brake. Classy. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Careful placement of the Di2 "brain" to keep the front end as aerodynamic as possible. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

The front brake is hidden behind the fork on the Giant Trinity. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Rabobank's Giant bar setup is exceptionally clean. An integrated stem with proprietary base bar, with vertically adjustable arm rests and extensions. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Rein Taaramae's Look 596. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Integrated stem and 3T bars. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Clean Di2 routing and an SRM on Taaramae's Look. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Thomas Voeckler's polka-dot Colnago K. Zero. Voeckler came into this Tour with low expectations, and a knee injury almost sent him home in the first week. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Polka dots for the front of Voeckler's K.Zero. The bike uses an integrated stem and hides the front brake behind the fork. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

The rear end of Colnago's new TT bike has been given a major overhaul. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Campagnolo's new Bora Ultra aero TT crank. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

A few Europcar riders were using 9-speed 11-21 cassettes with their 11-speed Campagnolo Record EPS shifters and derailleurs. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com