"Definitely radical — but makes a lot of sense": Cycling community reacts to Chris Froome's call for time trial bike ban

The cycling world is reacting to Chris Froome's calls for time trial bikes to be banned in professional cycling for safety reasons, with Israel - Premier Tech teammate Michael Woods amongst those to agree.

Yesterday, Froome made the case for racing all time trials on road bikes, saying it is not safe to train on time trial set-ups on open roads, and that removing "aerodynamics, time in the wind tunnel, and basically the funding that goes into a project" would make the discipline fairer.

> Chris Froome calls for time trial bike ban in professional cycling

The four-time Tour de France winner's comments were backed up by Israel - Premier Tech teammate Michael Woods, who insisted the majority of people in the sport would agree.

Woods tweeted: "I think the majority of UCI cycling teams, bike manufacturers, mechanics, and staff would be pretty happy with this idea (no TT bikes for TTs)"

Froome also weighed in on the growing debate sparked by his YouTube video, titled 'Do time trial bikes belong in road cycling?'

The 36-year-old rejected claims he suffered his serious crash at the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné because he was changing clothing.

"Love to see people weighing up the pros and cons of TT bikes on my latest YouTube video," Froome said. "It has raised something interesting about my Dauphiné crash. People think I was changing clothes at the time?

"Not true. I raised one hand to clear my nose and a gust of wind caught my wheel."

Not sure anyone could ride a TT bike at 60km/h while changing clothes, not even @GannaFilippo 🤣

— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) February 12, 2022

Not everyone agreed with Froome's assessment that time trial bikes are too dangerous for use on open roads, with some suggesting training in an aerodynamic position on a road bike would be similarly risky.

Time trial bikes themselves have changed little in geometry in the last 20 years. Time trial positions have, mainly head carriage. TT training dangers come about from training in position, and if you TT'd on road bikes you'd get exactly the same problem. https://t.co/0CvfpBnoSy

— Michael Hutchinson (@Doctor_Hutch) February 12, 2022

From the reaction of road.cc readers, however, the mood has generally been in favour of Froome's idea.

Steve Merrett commented on our story: "100 per cent you have no time to react if on the skis, and they definitely should only be used on closed roads."

Speaking from personal experience, Tim Collins added: "I gave up riding my TT bike because it is simply too dangerous on normal roads. I totally get what he is saying, though I would be sad to see them gone from pro racing. But training on a TT bike - especially solo, without team support - on roads full of hazards is probably not very bright."

Full agreement here! https://t.co/2FpuDC9Txr

— Charlie Thomas (@CThomas663) February 12, 2022

Brian Smith commented agreeing with Froome on both his time trial bike stance and argument that cobbles and gravel in Grand Tours can ruin months of preparation in an instant: "Definitely radical. But makes a lot of sense. And I am inclined to agree about cobbles and gravel in Grand Tours."

Alex McCree defended time trial bikes, arguing it is the "extreme position" riders put themselves in to be as aerodynamic as possible which is the problem.

"It is not TT bikes.. it is the extreme position some riders put themselves in ..and that position often encourages head down riding. You can get away with that on closed road grand tour TTs. On your local roads shared with car drivers who already feel the whole road is for cars only.. you are going to get hurt."

The debate comes a little over two weeks since Froome's former teammate Egan Bernal suffered career-threatening injuries in a crash while training on his time trial bike in Colombia.

What do you think? Should time trial bikes be a thing of the past in pro cycling? Let us know in the comments, on Facebook or Twitter...