How Tadej Pogacar Won the Tour de France Riding 165mm Cranks

That's it! It was his cranks. How could I not think of that.

Pogi has made Lance’s and Pantani’s greatest exploits look natural.

Mate thanks for this fantastic video! Well edited, well researched, and informative. I recently went from 175mm on my old triathlon bike to 165mm on a new one. Cadence increased naturally, and there seemed to be no learning curve. The less realised advantages are having no pedals hitting the ground in sharp corners, and a more relaxed transition to the run thanks to higher cadence. Makes a huge difference.

I changed to smaller cranks two decades ago. Shorter crank and using an oval chainring for my triathlon bike allowed me to get more watts out at lower RPMs which helped with all the issues noted in this video. It also helped with friction. The RPMs were closer to that of my run pace, too.

Proof is needed that Pogacar used 165mm cranks on all bikes used in this years TDF. He's was using 172.5 & 170 all last season & yes there's reports he changed to 165 over the winter, but is that on all his bikes for the 2024 season? What about leverage advantages of longer cranks & how come Team Sky extensively tried 170mm cranks for all riders, then after such extensive testing, all riders went back to their original crank lengths? Mostly 172.5 & 175mm A note...two times Paris Roubaix winner used 180 & 182.5mm specially made by Campagnolo. Hinault & Lemond 172.5 road & 175mm TT.

Ppl are so naive. It's not about what is best crank size. But rather what crank size is for you. It's determine by leg strength, leg length, type of riding you like to do and what rotation size feels the best. It's not 1 thing or another but overall. Someone who is 183cm+ with long legs on 165 crank is probably not good fit. Just like someone who is 170cm short leg probably shouldn't be using 175crank

I recently went from 170mm to 165mm, and agree, it's more comfortable. My performance hasn't changed, but I've never really pushed it to find out. I'm certainly not any slower and might be a little faster. I'm 5'9.5", so about Poggies height. I raised my saddle (by 5mm) but made no other changes.

I went to 165 3 years ago and would never change again. Watch lots changing to 165 and Tom Pidcock is testing out currently!!

OMG BUYING SHORTER CRANKS NOW

I recently changed from 172.5 to 165mm. I really did it more for cornering clearance. I didn't have to change my seat position surprisingly.

I went from 172.5 to 165 on my tt bike and then did the same on my road bike, never looked back...

Informative, thanks. New SRAM Red now even available in 160mm🤩 (previous shortest was 165mm). Wouldn't be surprised to see some pros experimenting with 160mm next year. Went to 165 on one of my three bikes last year. To be honest, can't tell much difference between 165 and 170mm. But appreciate being able to raise the saddle. At some point on other two bikes will switch to 165 to raise saddle. Also might avoid some rock strikes and be able to pedal out of corners faster, or even pedal through corners with shorter cranks.

Will it work for Remco? I'm from Belgium.

I need this... I mean I have short legs and my hips wont de age themselves 😂

I got into 165mm cranks because I really liked them on my track bike. I'd notice when I went to one of my bikes with longer cranks (172.5) I had greater chance of knee pain on longer rides (I also felt like it was harder to maintain a higher cadence). Here I thought I was just a weirdo liking them more than longer variants.

old knowledge said higher cadence means less power means slow muscle fibers are engaged, and lower cadence means more power means fast muscle fibers are engaged. - you seem to say that changed???

Rotor do down to 145. I have bikes with 155 and Shimano 165. You need to consider gearing below 155. Pluses are a bigger saddle drop, can use a smaller frame with a long stem (more aero) as you aren’t as cramped. For every mm of difference you create 2mm of space. The bottom of the pedal stroke is higher, which mean you increase the height of your seat post. The top of the pedal stroke is lower and that gives you space again. You can therefore hold aero positions comfortably. Shorter cranks allow for better acceleration. Foot speed remains the same, so the distance traveled if you associate a crankset with a 400m track is no different between inside lane and the outside lane. You just do more or less laps.

So why not just get an endurance bike if comfort is key?

I am the same height as you and considering shorter cranks. Why did you go for 160 over 165?

I think bicycle manufacturers know better what crank length we need, because they have collected all know how database and have the best teams of advisors.