Southampton's secret weapon to help train top cyclists like Chris Froome

From Olympic track glory to the Tour de France yellow jersey, the wind tunnels at the University of Southampton have played a key part in one of the great sporting success stories.

How vital they are was underlined again this week when Chris Froome paid a visit to the city ahead of his bid to win a third Tour de France crown in July and time trial and road race gold medals at the Rio Olympics later in the summer.

After a session in one of the university’s three tunnels last Saturday, the cyclist used social media to invited bike fans to join him on a surprise flash mob ride between Southampton and Winchester.

Chris, who was awarded his OBE for services to cycling the day before at Buckingham Palace, posed for selfies and signed autographs after the ride. He also stopped to chat to members of the university’s cycling club.

It made for a great public relations exercise after the serious business of using the wind tunnel in a bid to improve his performance on the roads of France this summer.

The university has three wind tunnels. Chris used the RJ Mitchell wind tunnel which is the largest of the three. Research carried out at the R J Mitchell Wind Tunnel has also helped the British cycling team in preparing for the Rio Olympics.

But secrecy surrounds how the wind tunnels are being used by Chris his colleagues from Team Sky.

Dave Marshall, wind tunnel manager at Southampton University said: “I can’t really talk about what goes on in here. We have confidentiality for our customers about the techniques we use.

“Our tunnels can run winds of up to 90mph but we wouldn’t do that for work with athletes. The wind speed for working with athletes would be based on the average speed or the top speed for their sport.

“We measure forces acting on things, we measure the drag force of air pushing an athlete backwards and we have force sensors measuring the drag.”

The university is proud of its links to sportsmen of such calibre and Rhys Thomas, president of the Southampton University Cycling Club, said he felt that it was good that world class facilities were available on the doorstep.

He said: “It’s really cool to have Chris Froome use the university’s wind tunnel. Some of our members have used the tunnel, so to be using the same facilities as the best athletes in the world is really motivating.”

Cycling technology expert Dr Oliver Bridgewood, who writes for Cycling Weekly, the UK’s top cycling magazine, told the Daily Echo that Chris had not used wind tunnels himself until two years ago.

Oliver said: “It is very important. If you are travelling at 30mph, 90 per cent of the total drag is the rider’s body. By optimising your body position you can make yourself a lot faster.”

He explained that even when Chris is climbing up a mountain, drag is significant and that it is most likely that he has been working on his time trial position.

Oliver added: “It’s been said that his riding style is like a robot pushing a shopping trolley which isn’t very aerodynamic. He would definitely benefit.

“He would be targeting the Olympic time trial and Team Sky have a new time trial bike.

"When you do time trials you are on your own and not in a peloton. He may be testing the new bike.”

Oliver said wind tunnel technology has “massively changed the sport” and has led to faster equipment and riders getting faster in time trials.

Riders can use them to make their positions more effective. He said that we are now aware of things that we didn’t know before.

He explained that they have led to new types of clothing with much lower drag. It could mean the difference between first and 10th place.

Professor Simon Jobson from Winchester University is a sport and exercise physiologist, known for his work in the field of “cycling science”.

He said: “In cycling, aerodynamics is absolutely key.

Cyclists use wind tunnels to reduce their frontal surface area; to reduce the ‘hole’ they are punching in the air.

“Let’s say that an ‘average’ cyclist needs to produce 65 watts of power to move at 20kph.

"To ride at 40kph, twice the speed or a 200 per cent increase, the same rider would need to increase power output to 385 watts, which is a 600 per cent increase.

“It is really important that a rider reduces aerodynamic drag.

"Wind tunnels are used to try to find the optimum position. Chris Froome would be trying to find his best position for head, arms, elbows, knees that has least resistance.”

Prof Jobson sees wind tunnels as an imperfect tool.

“They are not a ‘magic bullet’,” he said.

“A cyclist could be put into a position which they couldn’t hold. If Froome adapts his position he would need to go away and train in that position in order to maintain it.”

Rod Ellingworth, Team Sky’s head of performance operations was with Chris in Southampton.

He said: “Each team has their own reasons for doing wind tunnel testing, but we’re all trying to help maximise rider performance.

“This could be anything from adjusting his head position to a slight change in his saddle height.

“It’s a constant balance. We’re trying to help get the rider in a position which is aerodynamic but which is still comfortable enough for them to put out power.

“At the elite level, you are always looking to try and find the smallest gain that could make the difference between winning and losing.

"It’s having that attitude that means the technology doesn’t stand still as we are always testing new ways of thinking to try and find what works best.”

Benefits of Wind Tunnels for Cyclists

• Wearing shoe covers reduces the time of each lap of a 250m cycle track by 0.11 seconds (at 420 watts power).
• Lower hand position can make a rider 0.40 seconds faster for each lap (at 420W).
• Taping loose hair can make a rider 0.18 seconds faster for each lap (at 300W).
• A change of helmet may reduce drag enough to make a difference of four seconds for each minute during a race.
• It is not unusual to find a 20 per cent improvement in performance for cyclists visiting a wind tunnel for the first time.
• If power drops five per cent but the cyclist gain five per cent in drag reduction, the cyclist is going just as fast at a lower effort. Once the new position is practised power and speed can be improved.