Image 1 of 15 Bauke Mollema testing his Trek Concept TT bike in Valencia (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 2 of 15 Jordan Roessingh and Bauke Mollema (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 3 of 15 Bauke Mollema and the Trek squad (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 4 of 15 Bauke Mollema and Trek watch over the video footage from his testing (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 5 of 15 Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 6 of 15 Trek Factory Racing give Bauke Mollema his bike fit for the Speed Concept bike (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 7 of 15 Jordan Roessingh and Trek Factory Racing's leader Bauke Mollema (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 8 of 15 Off the bike and Mollema looks over his test results (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 9 of 15 Bauke Mollema and his Trek Speed Concept time trike bike (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 10 of 15 Bauke Mollema prepares for a track session in Valencia, Spain (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 11 of 15 Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) in his new colours (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 12 of 15 Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) in action on the track (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 13 of 15 Bauke Mollema tests his new time trial bike for 2015 (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 14 of 15 Jordan Roessingh puts Bauke Mollema through his paces (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing) Image 15 of 15 Mollema and the Trek team analyse the data (Image credit: Trek Factory Racing)

After last year’s Tour de France time trial it’s little wonder that Bauke Mollema has spent time finessing his time trial position over the winter.

The Dutchman dropped several places in the overall during last year’s 54-kilometre test from Bergerac to Périgueux but a move to Trek Factory Racing for 2015 sees the rider move onto Trek’s range of bikes for the first time and in December he and the team spent time at Valencia’s indoor track on the Trek Speed Concept time trial bike.

The machine has become a staple part of the team’s armory since its launch at the Worlds in 2013 and is used by the squad in the battles against the clock.

“Through Trek’s Precision Fit services, we’ve developed a comprehensive approach to optimizing a rider’s position for biomechanics and aerodynamics. Bauke went through this process during the Trek Factory Racing December training camp to establish his TT position on his new Speed Concept,” Trek’s Jordan Roessingh told Cyclingnews.

The hard work in improving Mollema’s time trialing position actually started in a hotel conference room in Benidorm, where the American squad was based during December. There, they set-up Mollema with a bike fit in order to establish a standard time trial position for him. They looked at his strength and flexibility on and off the bike, stretching him to his limits as they sought biomechanical harmony.

“The process started with a complete physical assessment for strength and flexibility. The test is used to understand a rider’s physical limitations, weaknesses and asymmetries, which we work to accommodate for during the bike fit. The assessment is also used as a measure of injury risk, and is repeated throughout the season to monitor each rider’s progress,” added Roessingh.

From there, Mollema was put on Trek’s Precision Fit bike to complete a biomechanical fitting. During the fit process, Trek conducted motion capture to measure critical body angles, and discuss posture as it relates to aerodynamics, so that the resultant fit from day one was already a position that balanced biomechanics and an initial crack at an aerodynamic posture.

The second day of Mollema’s time trial testing took place on the track in Valencia.

“We’ve found track testing to be the preferred venue for conducting TT position testing verus the wind tunnel, as the riders’ needs to pedal and steer their bikes gives us a better representation of the true comfort, efficiency, and sustainability of their positions,” said Roessingh.





“Because of his relative stability, and overall low drag value, we actually concluded the testing in the same position as we started in. While that may initially seem like a unsuccessful result, we can use the concept of his aero “stability” to reinforce to Bauke that his aerodynamics are optimized and he doesn’t need to obsess as much on his position during TT’s – he just needs to pedal. This should help direct his focus during training and racing, and provide him confidence that there aren’t any big undiscovered gains to be had in his position.”

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