While it was the Dropper Post that dominated the headlines after Matej Mohoric's Milan-San Remo victory, Cycling News discovered another secret technique that helped his decisive attack on the steep descent from Poggio to Via Roma.

The Slovenian national road champion also used large disc brake rotors to optimize braking.

Normally he would use 160mm Shimano rotors on his front wheels, but this time he went with 180mm. This is too large for many standard road frames and beyond the recommended size for the Merida Scultura team he raced with. However, he considered this so important to his success that he ordered a special adapter for his bike to make the rotors larger.

Upon closer inspection, Mohoric used 180mm Shimano XTR disc rotors on the front wheel and 160mm rotors on the rear wheel. This is 20 mm larger than the typical configuration of 160 mm front and 140 mm rear.

The advantages of the larger rotors were twofold: better heat treatment of the rotors under heavy braking and increased braking power.

The 180mm rotor has 13 percent more braking surface area than the 160mm rotor, and kinetic energy is converted to heat during braking. A larger area to dissipate this heat means less heat buildup and more stable performance. On such a short downhill, it is unlikely that this was the primary motivation for Mohoric; improved braking power would have been the primary reason.

According to basic physics, a larger rotor increases the leverage force acting on the wheel, increasing the braking force for the same input applied to the brake lever. This increased braking force theoretically allows Mohorich to decelerate faster, braking slower on corner entry and maintaining a descent speed just a few seconds longer before each corner.

Mohoretz reportedly trained on the Poggio downhill several times to test the special setup. The idea was scrapped, but it is clear that Mohoretch and Bahrain Victorious paid close attention to detail in order to maximize the small gains.

The subtle disc rotor modifications slipped under the radar, and Mohoretch pointed to the dropper post as he finished alone on Via Roma.

This was just one of a series of hacks Mohorec conceived for the success of the Milan-San Remo. To use a standard round dropper post, he had to use a Merida Scultura, a climber's bike, instead of the Reacto, an aero bike with an aero shaped seat post. The Reacto would have been able to use larger rotors, but the Scultura had a maximum disc capacity of 160 mm, so he had to install an adapter.

No Scultura was painted in the same Slovenian colors as Mohoric's national champion jersey, but he gladly ran with the team-supplied paint to get a dropper post. There is no doubt that the larger rotors were more subtle, but they also played a part in the historic victory.