Chainrings: Why bigger is better in pro cycling ⚙️
An in-depth look into why the pros are using bigger and bigger chainrings
On stage 1 of Tirreno-Adriatico, Filippo Ganna won the time trial using a massive 66-tooth chainring on his Pinarello TT bike, taking the win and covering the 11.5km course in 12:17.
While the biggest gear award went to Individual Pursuit World Record holder and sprint powerhouse Jonathan Milan with a 68/10 gear ratio! This follows a trend in recent years of riders using larger and larger chainrings in both time trials and road races.
Indeed, Shimano offer their Dura Ace crankset, their pro-level offering, with a 54t chainring rather than the traditional 53t or 52t, which is the largest available on their second-tier Ultegra offering.
But why are the professionals using such large chainrings, especially when you consider that, with an average speed of 56.17kph, Ganna is unlikely to have been using the largest gears on his cassette. A 66/11 combination, on 700c wheels with 28mm tyres would result in a speed of ~72.8kph at 95rpm.
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