Will 13-Speed Save 1x On The Road?

There may still be a place for 1x in the pro peloton

- Simon Smythe

When the Aqua Blue team folded and Adam Blythe angrily blamed the 3T Strada bike, claiming it was “a track bike with gears” saying, “you’re knackered — you can’t ride a one-day race never mind a two-week race,” onlookers assumed that marked the end of the road for 1x road bikes in the professional peloton.

The nail in 1x’s coffin appeared to be the launch of the Strada Due in July, a conventional double-chainring version of the Strada, with the brand’s Gerard Vroomen admitting: “Of course pro riders find themselves in a very specific situation, often going up mountains in a peloton surrounded by 100 riders with no choice but to ride the exact pace of those around them, not their own pace. In such a situation, where they can’t go at their own pace, having that extra gear can be an advantage.”