4 min read
If you’ve been watching the Tour de France, you’ve probably noticed something: riders spend surprisingly little time in the drops. Watch a Tour broadcast from the 1990s or early 2000s, and you’ll quickly notice the opposite. Riders spent a lot of time in the drops. The moment the pace lifts or the road tilts down, hands move from the hoods to the lower part of the bar. Compare that with today’s Tour, and the difference is obvious. Modern riders spend the vast majority of their time riding on the hoods.
That shift is easy to interpret as riders abandoning the drops, but that is not really what happened. The drops still matter for sprinting and high-speed descending. What changed is the equipment and the understanding of aerodynamics. Those two things made the hood position much more useful than it had been.
Start with the brake hoods themselves. Older integrated brake and shift levers were short and narrow. The rubber hood was almost like a small tower sitting on top of the handlebars. Riders could rest their hands there, but it was not a natural position when the pace increased. Your wrists bent outward, your elbows stuck out in the wind, and it was difficult to get your upper body lower.
The drops solved most of those problems. Moving your hands down allowed you to bend your elbows and lower your torso. It also made it easier to hold the bar securely while the bike bounced over rough pavement. When riders wanted to ride fast, the drops simply felt better.
Modern hoods look very different. They are longer, flatter, and shaped to allow riders to lean forward onto them. The shape supports the palm and lets riders rotate their wrists inward. With bent elbows and a narrow arm position, the hood position can now be surprisingly aerodynamic. Riders can get low without moving their hands off the hoods.
Handlebars have also changed. For a long time, deep drop bars were the norm. Many bars had around 130 to 140 millimeters of drop or more. That meant there was a big difference between riding on the hoods and riding in the drops. Going down to the drops lowered the rider’s torso noticeably, helping reduce drag.
Today, most road handlebars are compact. The drop is often closer to 120 millimeters. The transition from hoods to drops is smaller. Riders still get lower in the drops, but the aerodynamic advantage is often negated by the increase in surface area of the arm reaching further down.
Braking also played a role in the old habit of riding in the drops. In the rim brake era, riders had more leverage on the brake levers when their hands were lower on the bar. That extra leverage made a difference on fast descents and in tight corners. Riders often stayed in the drops simply because it gave them more control and stronger braking.
Hydraulic disc brakes changed that calculation. Braking power is now strong and more consistent from the hoods. Riders no longer need to move to the drops just to slow down confidently.
Bar width is another small but meaningful detail. In earlier decades, many Tour riders used handlebars that were 42 or 44 centimeters wide. That wider stance pushed the elbows out into the wind. Moving to the drops allowed riders to tuck their shoulders and narrow their upper body.
Today’s pro handlebars are much narrower. Bars in the 36 to 40 centimeter range are common, and some riders would go even narrower if it weren’t for the UCI. These modern positions aim to reduce the rider’s frontal area and dramatically improve aerodynamics.
Dario Belingheri//Getty Images
Flat arms and a flat back. This is about as aero as you can get on a road bike.
This is backed up by the last decade of aero-development, which has reshaped how riders think about position. In the past, the rule of thumb was simple. Lower was faster. Wind-tunnel and field testing have shown that it’s not actually that simple. A rider on the hoods, with bent elbows and a narrow arm position, is more aerodynamic than in the traditional drops position. The added benefit is that not being bent so low can also be helpful from a comfort and biomechanical standpoint. Meaning that not only are riders more aero, they are also more comfortable and able to produce more power on the hoods.
That knowledge changed habits throughout the Tour peloton. Riders now spend long stretches in a tucked hood position with their forearms nearly horizontal and their shoulders pulled in. It looks relaxed, but it is often a carefully practiced aerodynamic posture.
The Drops Still Get Used For Certain Things
None of this means the drops are obsolete. When the sprint begins, riders still use the drops for leverage and stability. The same goes for fast technical descents, where a lower center of gravity helps with control. The difference is that the drops are now a tool used when they are needed rather than the default position for riding fast.
Dario Belingheri//Getty Images
Modern bikes, components, and aerodynamic research have reshaped where Tour riders place their hands. The drops are still there. But they are no longer the fastest position available.
Test Editor Dan Chabanov got his start in cycling as a New York City bike messenger but quickly found his way into road and cyclocross racing, competing in professional cyclocross races from 2009 to 2019 and winning a Master’s National Championship title in 2018. Prior to joining Bicycling in 2021, Dan worked as part of the race organization for the Red Hook Crit, as a coach with EnduranceWERX, as well as a freelance writer and photographer.