Within the wake of unveiling that each Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert have made the workforce’s Tour de France roster, the Visma-Lease a Bike information continues apace, because the workforce has at this time revealed the custom-painted bikes on which they’re going to be racing.
The information of the workforce was teased on Monday, with a ‘postcard from Tignes’ posted on social media. Days later, amid confirming the choice, the workforce additionally revealed a particular blue ‘Renaissance’ design package, created to keep away from a conflict with the Tour de France’s maillot jaune, the yellow jersey worn by the race’s normal classification chief.
As we speak, detailed photos of the workforce’s Cervélo bikes, in matching blue designs, have been shared.
Full with a fancy patterned darkish blue base coat, remnants of yellow nonetheless shine by through the sizeable Cervélo brand on the down tube and the ‘C’ emblem on the top tube, however in a extra luminous hue, reasonably than the workforce’s traditional darker palette.
A Renaissance design sits atop the highest tube simply behind the stem, which is overlaid with the phrase “Within the spirit of limitless pondering.” The workforce says the design was “impressed by the spirit of this outstanding interval of growth.”
The 2024 Tour de France is exclusive in ending exterior Paris for the primary time since 1975. Because of the conflict with the Paris Olympics, the Tour de France route as an alternative finishes with a time trial in Good on the south coast.
To honour the change, the workforce highlights the race’s journey from the Grand Départ in Florence, which it describes as “a metropolis of inventive thinkers, revolutionary innovators, and versatile artists resembling Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Donatello,” to the end in “the land the place it bloomed like by no means earlier than.”
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The workforce’s CEO, Richard Plugge, says that with the design, “we not solely honour this historic interval and delightful metropolis and area, however it additionally symbolises our dedication to innovation and renewal.”
The bikes beneath the paint would be the light-weight Cervélo R5; the aero-first Cervélo S5, full with its uncommon Y-shaped stem; and the P5 time trial bike. As proven within the photos shared, the workforce might be utilizing SRAM’s Purple AXS groupset, a 12-speed wi-fi groupset launched earlier this yr. It is proven right here with a 2x chainset, however each Vingegaard and Van Aert switched to 1x chainsets on common events, and we anticipate to see the identical once more this yr.
Primož Roglič, the Slovenian GC contender previously of the Visma workforce, however now with Bora-Hansgrohe, has even used SRAM’s Purple XPLR gravel groupset on the steepest slopes previously, benefiting from the bigger cassette for simpler gearing. An as-yet-unreleased 13-speed SRAM Purple XPLR gravel groupset was leaked at Unbound Gravel earlier this month, however it’s unclear whether or not any of the SRAM-sponsored groups could have entry – or a need – to make use of it on the Tour.
Elsewhere on the Visma workforce’s Renaissance bikes, the spec stays largely unchanged from the remainder of the season to this point. Cervélo’s sister-company Reserve will provide the wheels. Italian model Vittoria will provide the Corsa Professional tyres, that are extremely regarded by our check workforce and have prominently in our information to the finest street bike tyres.
Fizik’s saddles might be used, although the precise mannequin will differ from rider to rider.
It is unclear whether or not the choice to change package away from yellow was purely a workforce selection or one initially mandated by the Tour’s organisers, the ASO.
Annually, the organisers of the Giro d’Italia – RCS Sport – forbid the EF Schooling EasyPost workforce from carrying their traditional pink package to keep away from a conflict with the maglia rosa, the pink jersey worn by its chief. The EF workforce have taken this of their stride, asserting repeated collaborations with streetwear model Palace to nice outcomes.
Nevertheless, in recent times, Visma Lease-A-Bike have been free to put on their traditional black and yellow livery for the French race.
In 2023, regardless of getting a custom-painted Cervélo at the beginning of the race, the workforce’s GC chief and eventual race winner, Jonas Vingegaard, completed on an analogous bike with a extra Tour-specific palette, matching the race chief’s jersey with a celebratory yellow Cervélo.
Nevertheless, on this planet of maximum optimisation and marginal features, paint is commonly seen as pointless weight, and riders would like to go with out the 100 grams of powder coat. It is because of this that many groups will use predominantly black bikes, the place the black of the carbon fibre can merely be coated with a light-weight clear coat. It will be fascinating to see whether or not Vingegaard makes like Amy Winehouse and goes again to black on days with steeper slopes.
Curiously, regardless of being simply eight days away from the race on the time of publication, that is the primary {custom} design we have seen to this point. We all know that Bora-Hansgrohe is ready to announce a partnership with Purple Bull, although, so we anticipate to see new custom-painted Specialised Tarmac frames subsequent week.
We’re additionally within the midst of ‘nationwide championships’ season, so we anticipate to see the respective newly topped champions given a particular paint job in the end. We additionally anticipate the assorted manufacturers’ paint retailers might be busy for the following week.
