Despite Matej Mahorič's assertion that dropper posts are "the future of cycling", the Volta a Catalunya peloton has rejected that belief, saying that they are unlikely to be regularly sighted in road races.
During Saturday's Milan-San Remo, the Slovenian attacked on the descent of the Poggio, and as well as taking multiple risks as he stretched an unassailable advantage, the Bahrain-Victorious rider was also aided by a Fox Transfer SL Performance Elite dropper post.
The technology is most commonly seen on mountain bikes and allows the saddle to be lowered by between 50 and 70mm via a flick of a button.
Mohorič's teammate Jack Haig, however, is not among what appears to be very few riders lining up to replicate the Slovenian.
"They're awesome... for mountain biking," the Australian told Cycling Weekly. "I have one on all of my mountain bikes and I think they revolutionised mountain biking, but I think for road cycling there are not many races that have a situation like Milan-San Remo where the race can be won on a downhill, so I’m not sure you’ll start seeing many people use them in many races.
"There are certain scenarios, like the weekend, where it’s beneficial but I’m not sure you'll start seeing it on every bike."
Joe Dombrowski of Astana-Qazaqstan expressed a similar sentiment, questioning if there are a sufficient amount of races that could benefit from the use of the technology.
"Personally I’m not sure I’d use one," the American said. "It’d maybe be interesting to try in training and see how it feels. Maybe for a brief downhill section it’s faster, but I don’t think… I feel like you’d have to lower the saddle for it to have a significant impact on the descent, it’s not something you’d pedal around with for very long.
"I really don’t know how applicable it is - perhaps San Remo is the perfect place for it, and you have to remember that he took a lot of risks; he is a good descender."
Daryl Impey, Israel-Premier Tech's veteran South African, admitted that he wasn't even aware that dropper posts were legal within road cycling (the UCI approved their use in 2014).
"I didn't know that, no - I thought they were just a mountain bike thing," he said. "I’ve never even thought about putting a dropper seat post in and I don’t really have much experience of them, other than having fun on a mountain bike, and I would never have thought it would have done anything in a road race.
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"I actually hope people don’t start using them because then I’ll be forced to do something like that! I think if we start seeing major gains in it, of course it’s something we’ll see more of, but right now it’s a new concept so we’ll see.
"Everyone’s thinking outside the box now, aren’t they. The sport is revolutionising and everybody is looking for ways to be better, to be faster.
"But I don’t think it was a dropper seat post that won the race: Mohorič is a really good descender. Maybe it did make a difference, but…no, I don't think so."
