The bike that carried Evenepoel to yet another time trial victory on stage 5 of the Tour de France.
(Image credit: Will Jones)
While the bookies are leaning towards Tadej Pogačar taking the overall Tour de France victory, there are still decent odds on Jonas Vingegaard. In the time trial, however, at least the flat one on stage 5 – today, at the time of writing – Remco Evenepoel is the out-and-out favourite, and he will no doubt have been banking on this stage to claw some time back on his rivals after his team's sleepy opening stage. It is perhaps disappointing for him that he's already lost nearly a full minute to both Pogačar and Vingegaard.
On a time trial bike, Evenepoel is about as close to perfection as it's possible to get. His position is superb, even going so far as to require a special cutout visor to allow him to get his head lower. He uses a massive chainring for aero and drivetrain efficiency reasons, and while his Specialized Shiv is quite old now as a bike model, it's clearly not slowing the reigning Olympic and World Champion down.
The Tour is also quite funny sometimes. Here is the world champion's time trial bike and it's just in a car park in a random hotel, guarded by a few mechanics who seemed totally unbothered by me wheeling it about. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Evenepoel, being a smaller rider, has a bike with a very short head tube. He's much like Jonas Vingegaard in this regard. Smaller head tube means a smaller frontal area, and any additional stack can be made up for in the TT bar riser struts, which are always a lot narrower. (Image credit: Will Jones)
His front wheel, which we've seen him using for a long time pre-release, is the new deeper Roval Rapide CLX Sprint, at 63mm deep. The wheel is optimised around a 28c tyre, and while I've only seen 30c widths of this unreleased new tubeless Turbo Cotton tyre (that's what's hiding under the Sharpie), I'd be surprised if this wasn't a narrower size. Why wouldn't Evenepoel be using brand new tyres for each time trial? Well, as tyres wear down, the tread gets thinner, the tyre becomes more supple, and it becomes slightly faster. It's a risky game, with punctures more likely, but at least with some tubeless sealant that is less likely. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Inside the legs of the golden forks are Evenepoel's rainbow stripes, signifying he is the current world champion as well as the reigning Olympic champion. (Image credit: Will Jones)
These TT extensions most closely resemble those made by Vision, though they are custom-made for Evenepoel. The barcode set in resin on the underside reads "Remco TT V4", so there has clearly been some iteration. He hasn't used these for long, but looking at images of him in action at the Critérium du Dauphiné recently, where he also used a new mad cutout visor to get even more aero, they mesh perfectly with his arms, as they are supposed to. (Image credit: Will Jones)
It's a little hard to make out but the bars are perfectly made for Evenepoel. The rear cups are also more flared than his previous bars, which helps deflect airflow around the body. (Image credit: Dario Belingheri / Staff)
At the end of the base bars he simply uses a small strip of grip tape. (Image credit: Will Jones)
There's nothing novel about these Shimano Dura-Ace brake levers, I just think they're cool. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Between the skis is a neat recess into which his Garmin computer will sit. I assume there is a rear module to lock it into place that doesn't remain attached to the bike. (Image credit: Will Jones)
In the ends of the skis, tucked away very neatly, are his shifters. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Evenpoel is using a 64 tooth chainring, which is massive. The first time trial is pan-flat, though, and so this huge carbon plate from Digirit isn't so he can push an enormous gear at lower RPM, but instead to allow his chain to sit in the middle of the cassette for more of the race. This straighter chainline creates less friction, and to add to that, the solid, 1x setup is also more aerodynamic. Unlike the carbon chainrings we've seen him use on his road bike from CarbonTi, the teeth of this chainring are also carbon. (Image credit: Will Jones)
He's paired that chainring with fairly short 165mm cranks. This isn't the shortest we've seen this year though. We saw Vingegaard try 155mm versions earlier in the year, although he too has switched back to 165mm. (Image credit: Will Jones)
This large chainring needs a K-Edge chain catcher to make sure the chain doesn't bounce off when it's at the extremes of the cassette. Another reason to use a whopping chainring is that you then need to put the chain in an easier at the back, and the chain links deflect less as they bend around the bigger sprocket, which makes things more efficient again. Interestingly, though, he wasn't using oversized pulley wheels at the rear derailleur. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Three little screws set the lateral position of the chaincatcher. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Ceramic bearings are no doubt hidden away in the bottom bracket, headset, and hubs. In fact the only non-ceramic ones are probably those in his Dura-Ace pedals. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Another rainbow flash, which doesn't clash with the gold as much as I thought it would. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Atop the inline seat post is a Specialized Sitero time trial saddle. (Image credit: Will Jones)
'The Wolfpack' is how his Soudal-QuickStep team refers to itself. (Image credit: Will Jones)
All these long dashes should merge into a series of concentric circles when the rear disc wheel is spinning. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Curiously, the cover for the valve hole doesn't sit flush, but instead is slightly raised proud of the rim's surface. I wonder if there's an aerodynamic reason behind this, or whether it actually causes extra drag. (Image credit: Will Jones)
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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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