Just last week, ex-pro Tony Martin accidentally on purpose leaked some pictures of a new Giant bike onto his Instagram page. Based on its recent addition to the UCI-approved frames list and its fairly clear aero design, we put two and two together and deduced that it was a never before seen Propel, the aero bike within Giant's range.
Luckily for our egos (and for fans of the Giant aero road platform), we were right. Proven by the fact that during the buildup to the Tour de France, all eight riders from Team BikeExchange Jayco have been doing their recon rides aboard the same bike, this time in full Giant branding and team livery, and most importantly, the Propel model name.
As we mused in our earlier post, Giant looks to have steered away from the hyper-aero focus, like you'll see on the new Scott Foil for example. Instead, Giant has made the Propel more of an all-rounder, with shallower tubes and what we can only presume (representatives from Giant were on hand to stop us from checking) will be a lighter total weight.
Luckily, we were permitted some time with the bike, so we got up close with the one that Luke Durbridge will use for the next three weeks, and squeezed the team mechanics for as much info as we could, to bring you as many of the gory details on this as-yet-unreleased road bike as possible.
Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, was the mechanics' confirmation that, despite all riders intending to use the Propel on flat stages, the lighter weight TCR will return to service on the mountainous days. This proves, at least for the time being, that Giant isn't planning to 'do a Specialized' and kill off one of its bikes in favour of the one-bike solution.
However, with our arms well versed in approximate bike weights from all of our various galleries from Tours gone by, we were suitably impressed with the lightness of Durbridge's size XL bike, estimating it at the low sevens (kilograms) with tubular wheels. With that, it feels to us that the Propel will make more sense for most buying consumers than the brand's lightweight TCR.
Firstly, the integrated seatmast stays - no doubt a contributor to the low weight - while the horizontal top tube also remains (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Up front, we think you'll agree the new integrated cockpit looks considerably better than before (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
It uses a proprietary stem with a groove on the underside, allowing cables to pass beneath the stem for easier maintenance (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
It uses split spacers and a traditional steerer tube, while at the head tube, the frame features a cut out that provides a cleaner aesthetic (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Elsewhere, the bottom bracket is big, for stiffness, but not excessively so (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The dropped seat stays are even more pronounced on this massive frame (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
With an aero head tube and with squared off rear faces, there's no denying this bike is designed to go quickly (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Atop the seatmast, Durbridge will run a Giant Fleet SLR saddle (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Beneath the bars, he's had some satellite sprinters shifted (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Cleverly designed bottle cages help air flow off the frame and around the bottles (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The team will use ceramic bearings from Cema during the Tour (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
There's also a new pair of 50mm deep Cadex wheels, which fill the gap between the brand's shallow, lightweight '42' and the deeper, more aero 65. These are tubular, but looking around the buses, it appears they'll be available in a tubeless guise too (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Plenty of teams are still running a hybrid of old and new Dura-Ace groupsets (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Josh is Associate Editor of Cyclingnews – leading our content on the best bikes, kit and the latest breaking tech stories from the pro peloton. He has been with us since the summer of 2019 and throughout that time he's covered everything from buyer's guides and deals to the latest tech news and reviews.
On the bike, Josh has been riding and racing for over 15 years. He started out racing cross country in his teens back when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s, racing at a local and national level for Somerset-based Team Tor 2000. These days he rides indoors for convenience and fitness, and outdoors for fun on road, gravel, 'cross and cross-country bikes, the latter usually with his two dogs in tow.
