Fausto Pinarello turns up to Ineos Grenadiers' rest day ride on never-before-seen model
Fausto Pinarello was spotted at Ineos Grenadiers's Giro d'Italia rest day ride, and he was riding a new bike(Image credit: BiciSport)
A little over two years after the launch of the Dogma F12, it appears as though Pinarello is working on an all-new iteration of its range-topping race bike.
Pinarello has been a bike sponsor to Ineos Grenadiers since the team's inception as Team Sky and, on the second rest day of this year's Giro d'Italia, Fausto Pinarello, son of founder Giovanni Pinarello and current executive chairman of the brand, turned up to join his sponsored riders on their rest day ride.
However, in photos uncovered by BiciSport, it looks as though the Italian was riding a never-before-seen version of the bike.
The overall silhouette of the bike retains much of the styling of the existing Dogma, but there are a few subtle differences. The most noticeable of which comes in the stepped profile of the down tube. Looking at the existing Dogma F12, it's clear that the down tube steps down twice throughout its length. However, on the bike seen here ridden by Pinarello himself, the down tube steps down just above the bottle cage, before stepping back up before the bottom-bracket area.
Image 1 of 2
The downtube on the bike ridden by Fausto Pinarello steps down at the bottle cage area, and then back up into the bottom bracket(Image credit: BiciSport)
In contrast, the older Dogma F12 disc steps down, and then down again(Image credit: BiciSport)
The other noticeable difference comes at the junction between the seat stays and the seat tube. The position remains in a similar place, but on the bike ridden by Pinarello, the junction itself is a little more pronounced, with an outward flare, potentially suggesting a consideration for wider tyres. Pinarello's road range has long utilised an asymmetric design in this area to account for differences in drive-side and non-drive-side forces. From the images, it's hard to be sure whether this flare is equal on both sides or whether the asymmetric design has been retained.
The seat-tube to seat-stay junction is more pronounced, with a flatter top edge (Image credit: BiciSport)
As for the model name of the bike, the 'Dogma' wordmark on the down tube confirms that we are indeed looking at a Dogma model, but as to its iteration, nothing in the images gives it away for definite. The seat tube features a letter 'F' in the same position as the F12 moniker sits on the existing bike, but no numerical suffix is shown. The existing Dogma F12 is the third iteration of the Dogma line, which began with the F8 and also included the F10. Therefore, with the omission of odd numbers, the obvious guess is that we're looking at the Dogma F14.
The other obvious feature is disc brakes, courtesy of Shimano's R9170 groupset. Ineos Grenadiers remain the only team committed purely to rim brake technology. Every other team in the WorldTour peloton is either completely committed to discs, or has both at their disposal.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
The Dogma F12 is available with disc-brake technology, but the overall weight of the bike has long been rumoured to be the reason that the British team remains on the rim brake-equipped version. Egan Bernal's current status as leader of the Giro is doing a good job of proving that rim brakes are still an entirely capable braking system but if Pinarello has been able to bring its disc brake model down to the UCI weight limit of 6.8kg, it won't be long before the whole peloton is on discs as wheel and bike sponsors transition away from rim brakes.
When asked for comment, Ineos Grenadiers' press officer, George Solomon said: "We are remaining tight-lipped".
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.
