The Milan-San Remo race isn’t usually known for technical innovation, but this year’s race wasn’t the usual start to a classic season. With all the pre-race attention on Tadej Pogacar (Team UAE), Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and a host of non-starters, Matej Mohoric (Bahrain winner) had other ideas.
Speaking at a post-race press conference just after his first Monument win, another world-winning Slovenian revealed how he prepared all winter with San Remo in mind, including working with the team to add a drip stand to his Merida Scultura.
“I’ve been thinking about this race all winter,” Mohoric said after the race. “The team came up with the idea of using a dropper post because this race suits me so well and it has a downhill at the end.”
Mohoric’s decision not to ride Merida’s aerodynamically oriented Reacto seemed at least a bit of a surprise at first, but his aerodynamic seatpost would have made it impossible to use a seatpost. The Scultura, on the other hand, has a round seatpost and suddenly made a lot more sense as Mohoric quickly explained his decision to race with a seatpost.
The dropper is visible in the photos from the finale.
“The team prepared a bike for me. We have had this plan for a long time,” Mohoric said. “At first I thought it might not make a big difference on the descent, but then I tried it in training and the first time I tried it I was amazed at how much safer [it is]. If you ride normally it gives you more control over the bike and if you ride at full throttle of course you can go a little faster. It’s easier to avoid mistakes or correct them when they happen.”
Mohoric’s downhill skills are well known and the Poggio descent provided him with a great opportunity in the opening of the Classic season. Having cleared the Poggio just behind the leading group, Mohoric quickly caught up and passed the pre-race favorites, somehow avoided an almost certain crash-causing roadside sewer, and was on his way to victory.
Why run a dropper post?
By being able to drop the saddle, Mohoric could lower his center of gravity, gain more aerodynamic performance, and in some ways circumvent the UCI’s ban on super-folding. In fact, when the super-tuck ban was put in place, many, including our own Nerd Alert Podcast nerds, speculated that it could signal the start of droppers in road racing. It seems that this beginning has already come.
UCI rules prohibit a rider from sitting on the top tube, but (at the moment) do not prohibit a rider from lowering the saddle onto the top tube.
Mountain bikers have known for a long time that putting the saddle down improves control on the descents. This allows the bike to lean further and allows more freedom of body movement over the bike. It can also make it a little easier to escape crashes, something Mohoric tested several times while going down the Poggio.
This wasn’t the first time Mohoric had successfully moved outside of the descending box. He is credited by some with inventing (or at least popularizing) the superfold when he used the position to keep out of the attacking field in the under-23 race at the 2013 World Championships.