Tour de France bikes: Stefan Kung's BMC Timemachine Road 01 - Gallery

This article first appeared on BikeRadar.

Stefan Kung (BMC Racing) is training on the new BMC Timemachine Road 01 ahead of the Tour de France, with the team confirming Kung and teammate Michael Schar will be racing on the bikes at some point during the race.

Coming off the back of new aero framesets from Specialized and Cannondale, BMC launched the new aero-specific frameset earlier this week ahead of the Tour. It is the first update to the Timemachine Road model in five years.

Alongside expected aero-specific features such as lowered seat stays, truncated aero tubing and proprietary aero cockpits, the BMC Timemachine Road 01 also features various fairings to further improve aerodynamic performance.

Italian component and accessories specialists Elite collaborated with BMC to produce frame-specific bottle cages and a storage box, which sits in the lowest section of the main frame triangle.

As well as offering storage space, the design reduces air turbulence over the bike and is claimed to perform better with bottles in the cages than without.

Furthermore, on the left-hand fork leg, another fairing is attached to the front and inside to improve air flow around the hydraulic brake hose and disc calliper.

Interestingly however, the UCI does not allow additional fairings to be added to bicycle frames or components, and a team mechanic confirmed the fairings will have to be removed before races, potentially resulting in more drag than a regular tubing and bottle cages design would have produced.

Last year, BMC launched an all-round racing bike model - the Teammachine SLR01. A direct-mount rear derailleur hanger is carried over from the Teammachine design and the integrated stem dubbed ICS by BMC, which also allows for internal cable routing is updated for the Timemachine Road 01, offering a wider and thinner height profile.

The 1.93-metre-tall Stefan Kung, who enjoyed an extended stint in the leader's jersey at Tour de Suisse, rides a size 58 frame and the proprietary ICS stem measured a huge 170mm - the longest stem we've seen in the professional peloton.

The BMC frameset is equipped with a full Shimano Dura-Ace R9170 groupset, including R9100-P crankset-based power meter, R9100 pedals and R9100 C40 wheels, although it is expected the bike will be paired with C60 wheels when raced on.

Click through the gallery above for a closer look at the latest BMC aero frameset.

Frame: BMC Timemachine Road 01 Carbon, size 58

Fork: BMC Timemachine Road 01 Carbon
Front brake: Shimano Dura-Ace R9120, with integrated aero fairing
Rear brake: Shimano Dura-Ace R9120
Brake/shift levers: Shimano Dura-Ace R9170
Front derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace R9150
Rear derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace R9150 with BMC direct mount hanger
Cassette: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100, 11-30
Chain: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100
Crankset: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100-P, 53/39 chainrings, 175mm cranks
Wheelset: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100, C40
Tyres: Vittoria Corsa, 25mm tubular
Handlebars: BMC ICS Carbon, 400mm
Stem: BMC ICS, 170mm
Tape/grips: 3T
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100
Saddle: Fizik Arione
Seat post: BMC Timemachine Road 01 Carbon
Bottle cages: Elite BMC Timemachine Road 01 Aero Module
Computer: Garmin Edge 1030
Critical measurements

Rider height: 1.93m
Saddle height from BB (centre to top): 830mm
Tip of saddle nose to centre of handlebars (at stem): 645mm

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