Top of the range bike gets the new 3x3 NINE hub gear with automatic shifting

Florian Lipowitzs candid assessment of the sporting hierarchy at the Tour de France sparked a lively discussion on Sport1.des Facebook page. The high-reach account, followed by around 1.7 million people, put the Germans words at the center of a post. Were fighting for third place. That was clea...

UAE Team Emirates -XRG CEO Mauro Gianetti wants to try and pair Tadej Pogacar in yellow with a strong Isaac del Toro result at the Tour de France, but one is certainly more important than the other to the team. The Emirati squad have worked well to help Pogacar build a vice-like grip around the gen...

Anyone who watched Sunday's ninth Tour de France stage will have felt a pang of empathy for Tom Pidcock as, heading downhill towards a potential breakaway victory, a gear change was followed by pedals spinning uselessly, rather than with any kind of resistance.After all, who has fluffed a gear change, or perhaps crashed into the small ring when it wasn't needed, and been left spinning out?In Pidcock's case, though, his SRAM shifter had apparently stopped working, rather than there being any mistake on his part. Most onlookers drew the conclusion that something had malfunctioned. However, according to the team, a piece of bitumen had wedged itself behind the shifter, preventing him from changing gear.Incredibly perhaps, given the frustrated kicking the British rider wrought upon his rear mech, presumably believing it was jammed, it continued to work using the shift lever's upper 'bonus' buttons, located on the lever hoods. Unfortunately, these weren't ideally placed for a sprint finish and Pidcock finished a disappointed third.It would be easy to assume that the team's explanation especially as it didn't come until later in the day was a carefully constructed piece of face-saving, with the real issue some kind of team oversight, such as a run-down shifter battery. Or perhaps a straightforward malfunction.However, Glen Whittington of UK manufacturer Eight Bike suggests the bitumen explanation is far from impossible because a very similar thing happened to him."If something gets wedged in behind a bit of grit, a bit of clay, something like that, then yeah, it just stops that one button from working," he told Cycling Weekly. "Actually, it's also a benefit of SRAM, that you actually do have the option then to carry on using the [bonus] button on the top."Detail showing a SRAM bonus button on the lever hood (Image credit: Anne-Marije Rook)The bonus button is a feature of SRAM Red and Force AXS levers a tiny square button on the inside top of each lever hood, facilitating gear changing when in the hoods. And it doesn't work if the lever battery runs flat, which nullifies any theory about that being the case."If the coin cell battery was low, the button on the top wouldn't work either," Whittington says. So if the button on the top is working as it was at the end, then the coin cell is up to date. But that's the kind of thing that they would check on the [SRAM] app pretty regularly, anyway. Especially with someone like him. At that level, they're going to be checking that on a daily basis.""[A flat lever battery] just wouldn't happen on these guys' bikes," Whittington adds. "I mean, I worked for a Conti team last year, and even with us, we would be changing those batteries for a stage race. So for every stage race, they'd get a new set of coin batteries in there just to rule that out, basically."As to whether you should be concerned about it happening to you especially if you're running Apex or Rival, which don't feature bonus buttons it feels very unlikely. "I wouldn't say it's a design flaw as such because it's obviously such a freak thing," said Whittington. It had never happened to any of his customers, he said, nor any of us at Cycling Weekly for that matter.So, keep those shifter batteries fresh and feel free to ride easy.Cycling Weekly has contacted SRAM for comment.

Tadej Pogacar made it three stages in the 2026 Tour de France on Tuesday as his Massif Central raid saw him break away from the general classification favourites in a soaring attack on the penultimate climb of the day. However, when he did make his move and leave Jonas Vingegaard and the rest of the...

Pinarello-Q36.5s Tom Pidcock crashed on stage 10 of the Tour de France yesterday after the race organisers whitewashed the roads in a bid to stop them melting in the heat.Team Visma-Lease a Bikes Matteo Jorgenson and Chris Harper also crashed on the same corner while descending the Col de Puy Mary on Bastille Day.Pidcock is famed for his descending and said after the stage that he wasnt expecting the white spray on the roads.I dont know what they do with the roads here, he told TNT Sports after the stage. They put this white shit all over it, and its really slippy.I just fell in the middle of the corner and had to chase. In the end it didnt affect me too much.The Briton said he was fine during the interview and added that hed need to see what happened when the adrenaline wore off.I dont think Ive ever crashed in a Grand Tour before, so now its going to be a new experience sleeping and trying to recover, he added.Pidcock managed to chase back after the crash and finished the dramatic stage in ninth place and climbing into 10th overall.Tadej Pogaar won the stage after he went solo with 15km to go. The win saw him extend his lead in the Tour de France general classification to more than three minutes. But it prompted booing from the fans.Thanks to all the fans that came today. It was an amazing atmosphere, even though there was some booing. To all the guys that were booing, you gave us more power, Pogaar said. Pogaar celebrates as he crosses the line to win stage 10. Jasper Jacobs / Getty Images Pogaar was followed by Remco Evenepoel in second place on the stage. Paul Seixas finished third and also addressed the conditions of the roads."I felt my front wheel slip in a corner without even understanding why. I think the tarmac was really melting because the descent was like an ice rink.Luckily, we were at the front at that point. We saw a few riders crash. It's really a shame to fall. At that moment, we didn't take any risks. We didn't try to do anything crazy on the descent, he said.This is just one measure that weve seen at this years race to combat temperatures at the Tour during the European heatwave.Stage 9 was shortened after Mteo-France placed the department of Corrze on red alert. Pogaar said that he would rearrange the entire cycling calendar in light of the increasing temperatures.Stage 3 saw emergency measures implemented because of wildfires, with fans advised to avoid the race.The UCI also relaxed its measures around feedzones to help the riders stay hydrated.