The team time trial in Les Essarts was a first outing for the aerodynamic time trial kit on the 2011 Tour de France.
Nic Sims of Specialized talks ITV reporter Matt Rendell through the finer points of the latest bike technology - in this case, Mark Cavendish's time trial bike that he rode for HTC-Highroad in Les Essarts.
"Aerodynamics is the key thing here. We keep all the cables as hidden as possible," Sims tells Matt.
"These guys have got to put the power down, they don't need a flexible frame.
"This bike handles more like a conventional road bike. If they're on a course with a lot of roundabouts, they're not going to touch the breaks, they'll be flying round the corners like they're on rails.
"Just for fun we went to McLaren (the Formula 1 team) and added a McLaren and it's their carbon knowledge that helped progress the bike to the McLaren level."
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