A Performance Process Geek Warning from the TDU pits
Spin Cycle
Escape Collective
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2024
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The 2024 WorldTour season is under way at the Tour Down Under and Escape Collective is on the ground all week bringing you the latest news, tech, and Escape podcasts. Today we've got a combined Geek Warning and Performance Process tech special episode as Jean Paul Ballard of SwissSide joins us for the first of two podcasts with the former F1 aerodynamicist.
In this episode JP takes us on a wandering roam around the Tour Down Under pit zone talking us through which teams and manufacturers are optimising and which are compromising. JP breaks down some aero myths, explains the true benefit of aero bikes, wheels, helmets, critiques some of the latest tech, and whether a "do-it-all" all rounder can really do-it-all as we discuss each team's setup.
Timestamps:
07:06 – SwissSide's AG2R partnership and a conflict of interest.
12:12 – Bora Hansgrohe & Soudal Quickstep setups from Specailized.
14:59 - Arkea's dedicated aero and do-it-all bike choices.
16:08 – UAE's Colnago V4RS, handlebars, wheel, and tyre choices.
19:38 – Do wider tyre rolling resistance savings offset the increased aero drag?
21:05 – Cofidis team bikes and their "catastrophic," double digit watt penalty tyre choice.
23:31 - Jayco's bikes and why rider preference isn't always best.
27:06 – Are hookless rims more aero?
28:37 – Aero versus vented helmets.
30:05 – The counterintuitive effect of helmet visors.
31:58 - One of the best aero bikes on the market and handlebar sail effect.
33:52 - Varying rim depths and tyre widths front to rear and a common mistake.
34:51 - The "detrimental for performance" design elements of the Ineos Pinarello Dogma F.
37:54 - Is there an aero gain from smaller front brake rotors?
39:58 - The importance of textiles.
41:55 - The other "aero interesting" design element of the Trek Madone.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:17.0 | Hello, I'm Rhonda McLaughlin and welcome to Performance Process. And I'm Dave Rome. |
| 0:18.0 | Welcome to Geek Warning. |
| 0:20.0 | I can't best put it your name. |
| 0:21.0 | No, no, that's all right. Yeah, a little bit of a roll reversal on this one because |
| 0:25.7 | RONAN went ahead and did a pretty incredible pitwalk at TDU that is so good on so many facets that we decided to run it as both a members-only geek warning and a members-only performance process. |
| 0:40.0 | Well, before I get into what I did exactly, what that means is that if you're hearing this and you're not a member, |
| 0:46.4 | it means you're going to get cut off somewhere halfway through, the fall episode is for members only, |
| 0:52.3 | so if you haven't signed up yet and you like what |
| 0:54.5 | you hear in the first half of this episode then head on over to escape collective |
| 0:58.2 | com forward slash join do that whole thing and you will not get cut off in future. |
| 1:03.6 | Yep and it's worth keeping in mind that the first half of the episode is great |
| 1:07.5 | so please tune into that whether you remember or not. |
| 1:09.6 | Just know the other half of the episode that if you're not a member you won't get is just as good |
| 1:15.7 | so anyway Rohn and what is this episode? Well what is it yes that is the question it is a |
| 1:21.9 | pet walk with JP Ballard of suicide. Now suicide |
| 1:26.5 | might have come to a lot of people's attention in the last month or so as the new |
| 1:30.5 | willing supplier to the Cathon AGEighty-T-R, the Mondial World Tour team, but actually the wheel |
| 1:37.6 | manufacturing side of Swisside's company is I think less than half 50% of their business. The other 50% is as an |
| 1:45.8 | Aero consultancy firm for many of the manufacturers in the World Tour. |
| 1:52.0 | JP's own experience comes from sort of being an aerodynamic |
| 1:56.0 | in the World Tour and much of the sort of aerodynamic and performance |
| 2:00.0 | optimization work he has done for many many brands across the world |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Escape Collective, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Escape Collective and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.