Triples and low gears

[Eden]

Coming from another perspective I raced with a triple for nearly a whole year and it was a disadvantage. No one made fun of me - indeed no one really mentioned it and a lot of people I know use compact crank sets - no one makes fun of them either. I did find that shifting from the small ring to the middle one was too slow, as it only takes a moments hesistation to lose contact with the leaders on a hill and then you are done. If I were not racing it wouldn't have been anything I really noticed, but because I was I ended up not shifting into the small ring and using the 42 for doing most of my climbing which was also not ideal. I haven't ever used a compact double so I can't comment to if its any better or not.
One thing to remember about large stage races, is that a lot of those guys are not climbers and really, really just want to finish the stage, not win it. If using a triple is going to get the big sprinters over the mountain I can certainly understand why they would use it. It would not surprise me if anyone who thinks they are going to contest the stage wouldn't - though I have heard of some big names putting one on for certain stages of the Vuelta and Tour de Georgia.
Of course if you are not racing there is no reason in the world to not use the most comfortable gearing - my husbands touring bike has a mt bike style triple, his TT bike has some freaky big ring like a 56 or something - its all about the function of the bike. I used the small ring of the triple on my Marin all of the time even though I race with a standard double.

[maillotpois]

....get the big sprinters over the mountain ....

I always love this ("Big Georgie Hincapie", etc.). I know relatively speaking, they may be larger than the pure climbers, etc., but none of these guys are exactly "big". Well, okay, Magnus Backstedt. But that's it. :P

[Eden]

I always love this ("Big Georgie Hincapie", etc.). I know relatively speaking, they may be larger than the pure climbers, etc., but none of these guys are exactly "big". Well, okay, Magnus Backstedt. But that's it. :P

OK OK, I'll have to agree - some of the "big sprinters" are not exactly big at all - ala Robbie McEwan, or Allen Davis - who are actually kind of short guys, though I'd hesistate to call Robbie small.... can't really compare them to some of the tiny/skinny guys who are pure climbers though. Having godzilla quads makes you sprint really fast, but its not too much of an advantage when the terrain turns up though