Shimano's carbon Dura-Ace cranks

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We keep spotting this one at the tour, Shimano's carbon Dura-Ace cranks. It can hardly be top secret anymore considering it's been seen on a few of the team bikes. The one pictured was aboard one of the Specialized Gerolsteiner bikes, we've seen others on Rabobank Colnagos.

Even with the cranks on such public display we've still had no further details from Shimano so it's down to guess work on the details. Obviously styled on the current alloy cranks the carbon variant loses the preload cap on the left arm and adopts a preload collar for adjusting the bearings instead. This is identical to the setup used on the current XTR mountain bike cranks. It's a easier to use than the current preload cap and 5mm pinch bolts and it also takes the guess work out of preloading the bearings. The only difference here is that the Dura-Ace collar has been slimmed down to give it a lighter, road orientated appearance. It also looks like the cranks run on the regular Shimano external bearing units.
We've only got the pictures to go on so far but the cranks look very tidy even if they are only prototypes. Round the back of the spider everything looks typically tidy and surgically Shimano with no out of place carbon weave in sight. We're going to try and get hold of one of the team mechanics to see if we can get a weight. It'd also be interesting to know if those arms are hollow and if the spindle is carbon or alloy.

That's the technical details, now we'll open the debate on the looks. No doubt Shimano has been forced into making a carbon crank by its numerous competitors turning out cranks made from the black stuff. It's still the material of the moment and no doubt we'll be seeing carbon derailleur, shifters and brakes in the near future from Shimano. The thing is with all

that carbon around at the moment the alloy stuff looks pretty damn good.

With all of Shimano's history and engineering know, how much better do a set of carbon cranks really perform over the current Dura-Ace model? If it's big weight saving matched with an increase in stiffness then why not. But there's also a certain amount of engineering romanticism about forging and machining a component out of a block of alloy.

So, are you a fan of the new carbon cranks or do you like a bit of shininess in an otherwise dark world?

It's the Moreau the merrier for French cycling veteran

French Christophe Moreau rides during the 7th and last stage of the 60th Dauphine Libere cycling race, between Valloire and Annecy, French Alps. Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana/swi) won the stage. Moreau won the race. (AFP) France's Christophe Moreau won the Dauphine Libere here on Sunday after the final stage of this Tour de France warm-up went to Kazakh rider Alexandre Vinokourov. Moreau, who joined the AG2R team last year, was following up his win in this Pro Tour event in 2001. The key to the 36-year-old's success was his dominant display in the Alpine mountain stages, winning the second stage in Saint Etienne and the fourth up the fearsome Mount Ventoux. Moreau climbed to the top of the overall standings in Saturday's penultimate stage and did enough in the 129km seventh stage, holding off a challenge from his nearest title rival, Australia's Cadel Evans, to finish seventh and take the yellow jersey. Evans, who finished third on Sunday, finished second in the overall standings, 14sec behind, with Kazakh Andrey Kashechkin third, 1min 27sec off the pace. "It was tough," said Moreau, who was part of the Festina team kicked out of the 1998 Tour de France for systematic drug abuse. "Anything could have happened but thankfully I've got experience and maturity on my side and never panicked. "The descent down to the finish was tricky and I had to make double sure of myself." The last day honours went to Vinokourov, winner of Wednesday's time-trial who made his winning move in the rain seven kilometres from the finish in Annecy. Vinokorouv, who will start as one of the favourites to win next month's Tour de France, had a 37sec cushion over runner-up Oscar Pereiro of Spain, who finished second to Floyd Landis in last year's Tour de France and is still awaiting confirmation that he will be crowned the winner following the American's positive dope test in the race. "Favourite for the Tour? It's true, I'm in form and the team's shown to everyone that's it's in good shape," said the Astana rider. Third-placed Pereiro was more than satisfied with his week's work. "This was a really important result for me, it gives me a morale boost," the Spaniard said. "I'm leaving here happy, even if there's still work to do, I've got two kilos to lose. "But I'm on the right path to arrive in form at the start of the Tour de France."

Veteran German Jens Voigt won the Criterium International for the third time with a typically attacking display in Sunday's road stage.