New wheels, helmet and a sneakily unbranded saddle.
Yesterday we revealed the first in our Tour Tech Gallery series. How many pieces are there? At least this one, with one more in the works, but only the tech gods, teams and manufacturers can really decide. Only they know what other goodies they will prepare and release.
What’s yet to see the light of day, like Mark Cavendish’s aero hack that first appeared in the Stage 3 rollout?
Anyway, I hope you enjoy part 2 and we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for more parts in the future.
Let’s start with the brand new wheels. The Israel-Premier Tech riders quietly rolled out to the start of Stage 3 equipped with never-before-seen 62mm-deep Black Inc rims. With new simple block text decals, carbon spokes and the same high flange hubs, the new wheels could easily be mistaken for the 48|58 wheels that were launched alongside the new Ostro VAM in February. But that’s not the case – they’re completely new and appear to be 62mm deep front and rear. Teams now also have the option of a slightly lighter 48|48 wheelset, with the rear wheel constructed with a 48mm deep rim that was previously only used as the front rim on the 48|58 wheelset.I featured Remco’s new shoes in last week’s Performance Process Update, but I wanted to get a closer look. My wife got closer to Taylor Swift last week than I got to the Soudal-QuickStep team bus this week. Still, I was able to quickly snap this photo of the unidentified shoes before the first stage. It appears to be a lightweight, climber-oriented version of the S-Works Ares shoe. The wraparound design is aimed at improving foot retention and power transfer, just like the Ares. The Velcro straps and more minimalist construction compared to the Ares obviously aim to reduce weight. When asked to comment on the new shoes, Specialized issued the expected Project Black statement. It’s a bit long to list here, but essentially it says that Specialized is working with pro riders to develop new products.Heat has been a big issue on this tour so far. It is HOT! As seen in part 1, most riders wear some sort of cooling vest before the stage, with Ineos riders jumping into ice baths (as does Astana). Evenepoel, pictured here, wore the vest to cool down after stage 1…….on his TT bike. The TT World Champion has his eye on both time trial stages and it’s clear he wants to maintain his familiarity with the aero position. There’s been a lot of talk about Pogacar’s 165mm cranks, which Remco also uses, and the former world champion raced Stage 1 with a 54:40 chainring. The rear derailleur wire exit on the new Tarmac SL8 leaves something to be desired – Soudal’s mechanics have used a little tape on the chain stay and what appears to be heat shrink tubing to secure the wire in place.We appreciate the Evenepoel’s chrome finish, including the handlebars.Evenepoel, Jay Hindley and others will be racing on Roval’s new CLX Team wheelsets. Easily identifiable thanks to their chrome hubs, the new wheelsets are claimed by Roval to be lighter thanks to a new carbon layup with less overlap and a new hub shell. Interestingly, Hindley will be racing on Turbo RapidAir tyres… It seemed like every other Specialized rider was racing on Turbo Cotton tires. Hindley is also different in that he is the only specialist rider not using a specialised saddle, which looks very similar to the restored Fizik Antares.But he’s not the only rider using a non-sponsor compliant saddle at the Tour… Giulio Ciccone is racing with this Prologo Dimension. Dylan Groenewegen won the Dutch national title the weekend before the opening day of the Tour, and Giant prepared a Dutch flag-inspired Propel for him less than a week later. Michael Matthews also had a special paint job, inspired by team sponsor Alura. Matthews and Jayco were one of the few teams to opt for the 30mm Corsa Pro. Speaking of tires… here’s a tire you don’t see much or at all these days: the original Grand Prix 5000. Specifically not the S TR or TT TR you see all over the pack. It was fitted to Sam Bennett’s Van Rijssel. Both the newer S TR and TT TR are lighter and supposed to have lower rolling resistance. Alexey Lutsenko is racing on a bike I’m very familiar with: the Wilier Verticale SLR, which I reviewed just last week.As first spotted in our Spring Classic Tech Gallery, Michael Mørkøv is racing on a repainted Black Inc Aero bar stem. Yesterday we had a front page gallery of Sam Bennett’s new Van Rijssel FCR Pro aero bike. He raced on an RCR Pro All-Rounder in Stage 1 and was using both carbon titanium chainrings and rotors, obviously wanting to keep weight down. Decathlon AG2R is also using the new Look Keo Blade pedals.Cofidis is the only team still using tubular tyres. We also featured POC’s new helmet in last week’s Performance Process tech update, giving us a closer look after Stage 1. The helmet features what appears to be a carbon fiber shell that bridges the pillar-like central section that makes up the vent walls. These walls are nearly vertical at the front of the helmet, with a straight interior matched with an angled exterior. While POC has yet to release details about the new helmet, we speculate that these pillars are designed to reduce the high-pressure zone in front of each vent and direct airflow into the vents. Another speculation is that the carbon plate appears to serve two functions: 1) to increase the helmet’s impact absorption capabilities, and 2) because it appears to be positioned quite high above the rider’s head, it may be able to direct and possibly accelerate the airflow coming in through the vents, improving cooling. The helmet has large vents on the sides, and POC has retained their usual Y-shaped splitter strap design. All those front vents are matched up with this massive rear exhaust. Carapaz also owns a gold Cannondale SuperSix that might generally be described as not-so-subtle gold, but compared to what other former Olympic gold medalists have achieved with flashy bikes and kit, Carapaz’s is actually quite modest. Groupama-FDJ is also reportedly launching a new helmet from French manufacturer Julbo. The new helmet is reminiscent of the Kask Mojito and is designed to maximise ventilation and heat management.Lidl-Trek uses rotor lock rings from Kogel, which the company claims on its website that the rings fit securely, are made from “premium materials,” and are corrosion-resistant, but most importantly, they come in black, purple, blue, gold, and raw colors for increased bike customization. Finally, a big thank you to our Lidl-Trek team staff for their old flat-bar Domane, which they used at the start and finish of the race, before having a new bike day and now riding this lovely flat-bar Checkpoint.
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