Historic first: A double-disc Tour de France time trial bike
Alberto Bettiol puts an Italian spin on Cannondale's 'Super Slice'
This article originally appeared on BikeRadar
Alberto Bettiol didn't win the opening time trial of the Tour de France, but he made history as the first rider to race a Tour time trial on disc brakes with his Cannondale Super Slice.
Bettiol's Cannondale-Drapac squad debuted the Super Slice in professional racing at Tirreno-Adriatico earlier this year.
While hydraulic systems are the standard for top-end disc braking for road and mountain bikes, Cannondale's Super Slice bikes use mechanical discs. The reason is fairly straightforward, Cannondale mechanics say: Shimano does not yet make a hydraulic lever for TT bikes.
Bettiol was the only Cannondale rider on the disc-equipped Super Slice; the rest of his teammates were on the lighter rim-brake Slice models, Cannondale mechanics said.
Curiously, some of those racing Slice bikes have Mavic disc rim-brake wheels with disc-brake hubs. Mavic supplied the team with rim-brake and disc-brake wheels, including a few clincher wheels (instead of the traditional tubulars), because Mavic has a new prototype clincher tire that is claims to be fast and grippy.
While the extra weight of the mechanical disc set-up won't help Bettiol in the Tour de France stage 1 time trial, he does have something going for him: A sticker of a little pizza slice wearing a heroic red cape hides on the back of his Super Slice fork. (Get it?)
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Click through the gallery above for a closer look at Bettiol's Super Slice
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