New Trek bikes on the roof of the Lidl-Trek staff automobile(Picture credit score: Future/Will Jones)
South African champion Ryan Gibbons prepared to coach on his new set of wheels(Picture credit score: Future/Will Jones)
It is not clear what mannequin this new Trek is(Picture credit score: Future/Will Jones)
The staff prepares for a experience on the eve of the Critérium du Dauphiné(Picture credit score: Future/Will Jones)
Count on to see the staff race on these bikes throughout the Tour de France(Picture credit score: Future/Will Jones)
The practice of pre-Tour bike releases has already left the station, kicked off with a new Wilier seen beneath Lenny Martinez a couple of days in the past. It’s now dashing up, fuelled by one other new bike noticed on the prime race for Tour de France tech testing, the Critérium du Dauphiné. Earlier than I torture the metaphor an excessive amount of, I’ll simply say this: We’re not fully positive what this bike is.
Strolling for some lunch I chanced on the staff bus and snapped a couple of spy photographs. The brand new bike isn’t one thing sudden, with a brand new body noticed on the WeightWeenies discussion board again in the beginning of the yr, however its use in racing has been unseen till now. Given improvement timeframes we assumed it might be a brand new Emonda, however it bears greater than a passing resemblance to the staff’s aero choice, the Madone.
One other one-bike race answer
Regardless of the mannequin title, Madone or Emonda (Madonda? Emondone?), that is clearly one more instance of groups (or manufacturers) pushing for a single race bike that’s neither an all-out aero machine nor a featherweight climber. In a lot the identical means because the Tarmac SL8 and the Bianchi Specialissima, no matter this bike is, it’s nearly definitely the one bike we’ll see the staff driving throughout the Tour de France and past.
The opening within the seat tube stays, which is the place it bears its most placing resemblance to the present Madone. Dubbed ‘IsoFlow’, this apparently aids airflow on the rear of the bike, in addition to cantilevering the seatpost.
Hopping to the entrance of the bike, there are once more similarities to the Madone. The fork legs are roughly as deep, and the marginally kinked downward decrease floor of the highest tube stays. The pinnacle tube, although, is much less deep, and as you progress rearwards the results of a transparent carbon-starved weight loss program are plain to see.
The highest tube is much like the Madone, although the downtube is much less deep. The seat tube, ignoring the outlet on the prime for a second, continues to be scalloped across the rear wheel for improved airflow, however the chainstays are considerably narrower. This follows the pattern of the most recent race bikes choosing a method of aero up entrance, the place it has the best impression, and weight saving on the rear.
Madone or Emonda, anticipate to see it on the Tour de France.
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Aero bottles
One thing that’s new for this bike is aero bottles. We have seen some earlier than on the Cannondale SuperSix however the EF squad would not use them. It appears Lidl-Trek is nevertheless utilizing a customized set of bottles clearly aimed with aero in thoughts.
