It's well and truly new road bike season. I've already bought you the first proper spy shots of the brand-new Specialized Tarmac SL9 at a race, a bike that is modestly different but clearly targeting greater aerodynamic efficiency as a one-bike system for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and, inevitably, all Specialized teams down the line.
Ridley, though, is taking a different approach. Its main sponsored team, Uno-X, has been smashing about happily for some time on the excellent Ridley Noah Fast 3.0, a bike I really enjoyed riding. It was, however, a very single-minded beast, and while it handled punchy rises well, it wasn't a bike destined for the high mountains.
It seems the Belgian brand has been working on a new lightweight machine, one that has been spotted at the Giro d'Italia Women's race under Mie Bjørndal Ottestad.
Some judicious browsing of Getty Images later, and we can clearly see a svelte frame, with a 'PROTOTYPE' UCI sticker on the down tube and 'PROTOTYPE' written on the fork legs; that'll be a prototype, then.
In amongst a peloton it looks quite similar to the current Falcn RS (Image credit: Getty Images)
The frame shapes are similar, but different. A head tube ridge, a slimmer top tube, a flattened seat tube, wider forks, and 'PROTOTYPE' written on the forks. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Zoom and enhance... (Image credit: Getty Images)
While we can't say for sure what model this is, given the current designation, it seems likely it'll be an updated Falcn RS, a bike that, in Ridley's own words, "will help you conquer the highest mountains and the exceptional aerodynamics of the frame and the fork will convert every watt into pure speed when you’re in the breakaway."
The current Falcn RS has a generous 34mm tyre clearance, and it looks like this could be increased further still by the looks of the fork crown; it's extremely roomy. It also appears to keep the same cutout in the non-drive side leg where the brake calliper sits, but perhaps to a slightly less severe degree.
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The top tube looks to be slimmer in the vertical direction, but with a slight triangle cross-section, a trend (the narrow bit at least) that's common among many new bikes targeting a low mass. The shaping behind the head tube appears to be more of a smooth curve, but that could just be the angle of the images from the race.
The head tube has a ridge, too, about 2/3 of the way up, which is very much akin to the Speed Sniffer found on the Specialized Tarmac SL8 and new SL9 that caused much consternation at launch, and also the head tube of the Pinarello Dogma, which received zero backlash despite being basically the same thing.
It appears the cutout in the seat post has gone from these images, though again, you can't see it totally side on. What you can see is the seat tube widening and flattening where the bottle cage is mounted, perhaps in an effort to smooth the airflow around the rear bottle, the frame, and onto the rear wheel.
From what can be seen here, it looks like a bike more than capable of troubling the UCI's weight limit.
From the front the forks looks like it could take more than a 34mm. It could maybe even push a 38mm, but and wider and it'd be illegally tall, and the height of the tyre may be more of a limiting factor than the width in reality. (Image credit: Getty Images)
It's a very pleasing curve, and you can see the head tube protrusion here again, too. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Zoom and enhance, again. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Happily, having seen these images, I was able to high tail it over to the Uno-X team hotel at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and lo and behold there it was, lined up next to the existing Noah Fast aero bikes and several Dean time trial machines, so we can get a more in depth look.
I was told by the mechanics that the bike we saw was 7kg, though we suspect it would be more than possible to make it lighter than that.
The team were clearly doing shakeout rides on a variety of machines. The new one is in the middle, looking very skinny next to the aero machines and TT bikes. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Not sure sitting on the top tube would be reccomended... (Image credit: Will Jones)
This fork has a LOT of room for tyres. These were 28c, but 35s should easily fit and maybe even more at a push. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The backsides of the down tube and head tube are classic truncated aerofoils. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The down tube has a constant profile for almost its entire length. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The seat clamp is neatly sorted by two small pinch bolts in the back of the seat tube. The seat stays are very thin, too. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The bottom bracket isn't very chunky at all. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Here's that ridge in the head tube; it's less pronounced than it appeared from the race shots. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The seat post also is skinny. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The fork legs are straight with a slight taper, though the non-drive side has that distinctive brake mount cutout. (Image credit: Will Jones)
From the back we can see slightly truncated rear profiles, and lots of room. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The UCI prototype sticker is always a giveaway. (Image credit: Will Jones)
While the fork doesn't flow into the head tube in the way aero bikes do, the curve of the crown is quite pleasing to the eye. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Will joined the Cyclingnews team as a reviews writer in 2022, having previously written for Cyclist, BikeRadar and Advntr. He’s tried his hand at most cycling disciplines, from the standard mix of road, gravel, and mountain bike, to the more unusual like bike polo and tracklocross. He’s made his own bike frames, covered tech news from the biggest races on the planet, and published countless premium galleries thanks to his excellent photographic eye. Also, given he doesn’t ever ride indoors he’s become a real expert on foul-weather riding gear. His collection of bikes is a real smorgasbord, with everything from vintage-style steel tourers through to superlight flat bar hill climb machines.
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