topflightpro

Pretty sure Sagan has raced on a aluminum Allez Sprint in a couple of races.

asgelle

Early season Tour Down Under. Not a priority race. More of a marketing stunt.

mollusk

For weekend racing any aluminum frame with Shimano 105 is competitive as long as the bike is a good fit. If you are losing sprints by inches then maybe a more expensive bike would help;

asgelle

I don't know how much racing you've done, if any, but a gap of a few inches at a critical point (not only sprints) can turn into hundreds of yards at the finish.

Fredo76

It's not the bike, it's the rider.
It's not the rider, it's the dope.
It's not the rider, it's the bike.
It's not the bike, it's the rider.

We've come full circle.

furiousferret

In a crit or hilly race if it's you vs someone else with an open line the bike can give you roughly a half wheel length over a block. Knowing how to navigate the pack and being fit gets you alot more. The bike before this one would always drop a chain, did it twice in critical parts of racing, so having a functional one is obviously important.

Eric F 

Or, it might be meaningless.

WB4racing

I rode an aluminum specialized Allez for years that weighed about 23lbs. The first time I did my weekend route on my new full carbon Orbea, I had 58 PR’s lol.

mollusk

I know this is an old zombie thread and I am not a regular contributor anymore and I no longer race but I do want to make a point about how important bikes are in races. The most important part is fit. If your bike is not a good fit it is a crap bike for racing for you. You can't spend the whole race fighting your bike and expect to win. A bike that is lighter but isn't a good fit is a crap bike for you.

My best racing frame was a Lemond Zurich. It fit me like a glove and it allowed a really low drop. For me it was a perfect geometry for a road race. I didn't care that it was a heavier steel frame.

Eric F 

A '97 Zurich was my first real race bike. I ended up selling it and some other stuff to fund a ti frame, which I ended up not liking very much at all. In my 12 years of racing, I had some bikes I liked a lot, and some bikes I didn't like as much - steel, ti, aluminum, and CF. Today, I wish I still had the Zurich. It wouldn't take the place of my newest road bike, but I still wish I had it.

mollusk

I have raced a bit and never had a problem closing a gap of a few inches. I was talking about losing a drag race sprint by inches at the line. My final set of race wheels were Edge (now Enve) deep section tubulars with DT Swiss hubs. I have also raced on Mavic Ksyrium elite wheels and they were my training wheels. I got my Edge wheels at cost because they were a team sponsor and I loved racing on them. But I don't think that any of my results were improved using them versus using my training wheels. Maybe with the exception of time trials.

Now in the mix during the setup for a sprint a small gap can give an aggressive rider an opening to intimidate a rider off of a good wheel. Is this what you are talking about? Better to know how to take a hit and keep upright than to spend money on equipment.

burnthesheep

I went from alloy mech cross bike to modern electronic shift carbon with hydro disc brakes, that seemed to be more a difference to me than road bike stuff.

I have less fitness this year due to family stuff the past year, but on training rides on gravel I'm easily faster.

Cross wise, I don't feel as beat up and feel my cat 4 cross racer mistakes aren't as penalized as they used to be. It just feels more planted even ignoring the disc brakes, not sure how/why. The last season on the alloy cross bike I spent a ton more time practicing and was slower than this year with only gravel training and stuff and a couple hot laps to train. Shrug.