The UCI is planning to trial a Maximum Gearing Test Protocol in selected professional road races starting August 1, 2025. The memo, which was first reported by Daniel Benson and has been viewed by Escape Collective, sets a maximum of 10.46 meters of development in a traditional rollout test, which would equate to a 54x11 gear on 700c wheels and road tires.
That limit would ban virtually all SRAM drivetrains as they are ridden in the professional peloton due to SRAM's 10-tooth cog. SRAM-sponsored pros generally pair that 10-tooth cog (the hardest gear) with 50T, 54T, or even larger chainrings. With a 10-tooth rear cog, the largest chainring size a rider can use and still get under the 10.46 m limit is 49 teeth.
In other words, virtually every male pro riding for a SRAM-sponsored team would have to make a change. The vast majority of Shimano-sponsored pros will not.
In another blow to SRAM, the restriction would also effectively end experimentation with 1x drivetrains. Last spring, Lidl-Trek's Mads Pedersen won Gent-Wevelgem and finished second at the Tour of Flanders riding a 54T chainring and a wide range 10-46T cassette, which would be disallowed if gear restrictions come into permanent use.
Ronan Mc Laughlin
Shimano, by contrast, seems largely unaffected. The smallest cogs on its cassettes feature 11 teeth, and thus are fully legal when paired with a 54-tooth chainring.
The rule would also ban another common practice used by riders regardless of drivetrain brand, which is the use of oversize chainrings to improve drivetrain efficiency. Chainrings of 56 or 58 teeth are often used – especially by sprinters – not for the purpose of increasing the maximum gear ratio but to maintain a more optimal chain line and decrease chain articulation at high speeds. These setups are also common in time trials, but time trials are not included in the proposed gearing limit.
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