Do they use double or triple chain rings while climbing the mountains in the tour de france?

Question

Do they use double or triple chain rings while climbing the mountains in the tour de france?

Answer 1

double rings

Answer 2

They only use two chainrings, on some of the stages with particularly big mountains a particularly small inner chainring will be used (36/38 teeth)

Answer 3

They only use doubles and rarely might use a compact crank (50/34) on extreme climbs. In the Tour there really aren't any mountains that a pro needs those gears for. On a mountain stage they will just swap out their 11/21 cassette for a 12/25 or something close to that. A 25 tooth cog is really large for a pro.

Some extreme climbs that you might see compact cranks on are the Angliru in the Giro or Brasstown Bald in the Tour de Georgia.

Answer 4

i hear they use 3 rings

Answer 5

Doubles.

Among many riders it's becoming popular to use a compact crank with 50/36 or 50/34 chainwheels instead of 53/39. They may also fit a different rear cassette with a large sprocket as big as a 28 (SRAM makes a 28 tooth road sprocket).

Since the stages are long and may incorporate many types of terrain the setup is usually a compromise.

EDIT: When I wrote "many riders" I was referring to mere mortals, not racers. With the length of pro stages it would be hard to keep up on flat sections with gearing limited by a compact crank.

Answer 6

Doubles. Usually 39/53, but they may change them to 36 if the climbs are particularly steep. They also change the rear cassette depending on how much climbing in the day's stage.