Tour de France riders are using gears 1.5x bigger than yours, but not for the reason you might think

If you are one of the thousands of cycling fans, like my parents, for whom ‘cycling’ and ‘Tour de France’ are essentially interchangeable, you may well not be as up to speed with the latest in time trial technological advancements as those of us who, for example, wouldn’t bat an eye at watching every minute of the Tour de Suisse or the Baloise Belgium Tour.

Today, at the time of writing, is time trial day at the Tour, and every rider will be setting off on a totally flat course against the clock to try and eke out a few seconds over their main rivals. As well as using special bikes, crazy looking helmets, and covers on their shoes to help smooth the airflow, you might also notice that some riders are using really, really big gears at the front of their bikes.