Lionel Sanders finally does some aero bike testing

He said that he wouldn’t return to racing until he was “a better athlete.” It looks like Lionel Sanders is making some headway on that front, based on a video he posted his YouTube channel.

Lionel Sanders really needs a coach … or he’s going to become one

In the video Sanders is working with Marc Graveline, an aerodynamics expert who consults with World Tour cycling teams. Sanders had worked with Graveline way back in 2016 at the Velodrome in Milton, Ontario, Canada, but says that he really hasn’t done any aero testing since that time.

Things start with some baseline measurements, which correlate pretty closely to Sanders’ CdA (coefficient of aerodynamic drag) numbers from racing based on Graveline’s analysis. From there they experimented with some different hand positions.

Sanders saw a huge improvement when he moved his aero bar angle down to 15 degrees (versus the “high hand” position he had adopted) and switching helmets – eventually his CdA went from approximately .230 to .198. That would convert to a 30-watt improvement, or 3 seconds per kilometre, according to Graveline.

This is no-doubt the first of many videos we’ll see over the next little bit as Sanders looks to dial in both his training and equipment in his quest to be “a better athlete.”