Aerodynamics, a leading research to improve racing times

How science improves the performance of athletes. This is particularly the case in France with scientists integrated into the federations. Today, cycling. A report by Boris Hallier.

During the weekends of these Olympic Games, the science ticket discusses the many sports disciplines that call on researchers to win more medals. And today, we go into a wind tunnel with the French track cycling team.

Here, the bike is fixed to the ground, on a scale, in a sort of tunnel, and the noise that we hear is an enormous fan… “Actually there is a lot of wind coming,” says road and track cyclist Corentin Ermenault. A wind that blows at more than 70 km/h against track cyclists.

“Lots of wind in your face, as they say in cycling. You’re really facing the wind, so there’s air resistance, of course, with your body, your bike, and all the tools…”

Corentin Ermenault

road and track cyclist

Among these tools, there is obviously the helmet…

And that day, in the wind tunnel installed near the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome, the cyclists of the French team tried to determine the perfect helmet. “We are trying different helmets today, to see which one is the best. So, despite the similarities, helmets can change the aerodynamics,” adds Corentin Ermenault.

And the aerodynamics specialist is Emmanuel Brunet, research and performance manager at the French cycling federation. “It goes very quickly, we go from one helmet to another. With each athlete, we do two tests.”

“On my computer, I have all the data files. I actually note the aerodynamic drag, the wind speed. We change the size on the helmet. It happens quite often, in pursuit positions or in positions that are almost perfect, that the larger helmets allow them to have an aerodynamic gain.”

Emmanuel Brunet

research and performance manager at the French cycling federation

“And for the moment, the bust, the shoulders, that makes a big mass, and to be able to profile all of this mass, it is helped a little by the helmet. On the other hand, the aerodynamics being complex, you really have to test to know, to be sure”, adds Emmanuel Brunet.

An important choice, since the right helmet can save you a few hundredths of a second.