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Tom Boonen wins first UCI pro road race on disc brakes

Tommeke to ride disc equipped bikes throughout 2017

Tom Boonen is gearing up for his final classics campaign of his career after announcing in July 2016 that he would hang up the bike after the 2017 edition of Paris-Roubaix. His win on Stage 2 of the 2017 Vuelta Ciclista a la Provincia de San Juan was not only notable because it was the earliest in the season ‘Tommeke’ has ever won a race but because the Specialized S-Works Venge Vias he was atop was equipped with disc brakes.

This is the first time disc brakes have been ridden to victory in a UCI pro road race. The technology is already widely used in other disciplines such as mountain biking and cyclocross but acceptance of the technology on the road has been bumpier.

The first disc brake trial period took place at select races in August and September of 2015. The trial was intended to continue throughout 2016 but when Movistar rider Fran Ventoso suffered a deep gash on his leg at 2016 Paris-Roubaix, allegedly as a result of a rotor, the trial was suspended for the remainder of the season.

The technology is not overwhelmingly popular amoung professional riders with the recently retired Ryder Hesjedal saying, “With a sportive, it’s the same issue. It’s about a bunch together. If there’s a potential for a peloton-type crash, then yeah, disc are an added danger.”

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Michael Barry who rode for Team Sky before retiring in 2012 added, “In the peloton, it is very frequent that riders get hit from other riders’ wheels and quick releases in a pileup. There are often bottlenecks in the road when one rider goes down, which causes riders to pile into each other. Riders will have tire-burn marks on their calves or scratches from parts. The discs are bloody sharp so instead of burning, they will cut.”

Despite opposition by some rides, in September it was announced the UCI would indefinitely continue the ban on disc equipped bikes in races. That decision was overturned in October when the UCI announced it would reinstate the disc brake trial beginning in 2017. Manufacturers would need to round the rotor edges to make them safer for use in road races.

For his part, Boonen seems to be a fan of the technology writing in an Instagram post after his win, “I have been a big fan of this massive improvement from the start. It doesn’t only add safety, it also gives you better control of the bike braking into corners.”

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Earlier in the week, Boonen announced that he would be riding disc brakes throughout 2017 saying that it was the biggest improvement he has seen on bikes during the course of his 16-year career.