Matej Mohorič is at it again. The Slovenian self-confessed tech nerd and former Milan-SanRemo winner, has brought his dropper seat post to the Tour de France.
Want to know which days the venerable stage hunter is targeting? Just keep an eye out for the dropper in the morning.
Mohorič famously used a dropper post on his way to victory in the 2022 Milan-SanRemo. Descending solo off the final climb of the Poggio, Mohorič used the dropper post’s lower position to get more aerodynamic, lower his centre of gravity, and generally just improve the bike’s manoeuvrability and thus descend faster.
The UCI banned the super-tuck bums on the top tube descending position in 2021, with some, including Escape’s own Global Tech Editor James Huang, speculating the rule change may tempt some riders to turn to dropper posts to get the same lower position. To our knowledge, Mohorič is the only rider as yet to employ a dropper post in a World Tour race.
Mohorič has raced Merida’s Reacto aero bike so far this Tour. That aero frame, though, features a proprietary aero-profiled seat tube. Mohorič had switched to Merida’s Scultura all-rounder for that SanRemo success specifically because the Scultura’s round seat tube opens up the option of using a more traditional round dropper post. Back then, Mohorič used a dropper post with 6cm of drop connected to a grip-shift on the handlebars to actuate the post.
Mohorič is clearly in good form, finishing third on the Puy de Dôme finish to stage nine, a climb that wouldn’t typically suit Mohorič’s characteristics. The decision to switch to the Scultura and a dropper post for Tuesday’s stage ten indicates that Slovenian is specifically targeting this stage.
Update: Unfortunately for Mohorič fans, though the Slovenian made it into a few of the early splits, as of 100km to go in stage 10 he and his dropper are in the main peloton.
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