Products weight and reliability highlighted as important factors in decision
After using SRM in the past, Team Sky has decided to change to the crankarm-mounted Stages power meter for 2014.
Smaller and more discrete than some of the other systems on the market, the team highlighted the light weight plus other factors as being important in the decision.
Tim Kerrison, Team Sky’s Head of Performance Support, elaborated on this. “As a team, we see the power meter as a very useful tool. The results that we get, both from training and racing, help us to quantify how our riders are performing, which then allows us to make informed coaching decisions,” he said.
“Stages have worked hard to develop a high quality product that is extremely lightweight, reliable and simple to use whilst retaining the precision and accuracy that we require at Team Sky.”
The team points out that the meter only adds 20 grams to the Dura Ace 9070 crankset that it uses, making it far lighter than many rival products.
“The power meter is one of the most important tools for the team – giving us the perfect insight into how a rider is performing, which is crucial for the coaching team,” said Carsten Jeppesen, Team Sky’s Head of Technical Operations. “We’re very excited to team-up with Stages, who are not only innovating the power meter market, they are also making the real-time on-bike measurement of power more accessible and affordable to a larger cycling population.
“We look forward to working closely with Stages in the future and also helping to develop further products with them.”
The company’s senior vice president Pat Warner hailed the decision, saying that the sponsorship was a very exciting one for the company. He described Stages as being “humbled and honoured” to be the mechanism for Sky to collect its data.
The team said that the product’s consistency across rapidly changing temperatures was also very important.
Sky has won the last two editions of the Tour de France, with Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome winning in 2012 and 2013 respectively.