See 2014 Bikes of the World Tour Part 1 here.
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What’s in:
- The new(ish) 35mm Campagnolo Bora wheels
- Campagnolo EPS internal battery (except for one). All Di2 had internal batteries except for Bianchi (Belkin).
- Almost all the teams were riding 25mm tyres
- Some Lotto-Belisol riders were still loving their 38mm wide bars (this is extremely narrow for those of you unfamiliar)
What’s out:
- Orbea (Euskatel)
- Felt (Argos-Shimano, now Giant-Shimano)
- Movistar changed from Pinarello to Canyon
- <style=”font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;”>Belkin swapped Giant with Team Shimano-Giant and picked up Vacansoleil-DCM’s Bianchi’s.
- <style=”font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;”>23mm tyres
Groupset counts (WorldTour teams only):
- Shimano: 10 teams
- Campagnolo: 5 teams
- SRAM: 3 teams
*This is the same count as last year, even though some shuffling around has been done.
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- To me, the Cannondale EVO has to be one of my favorites featuring a traditional geometry and “beefy” all-round feel. Equipped with SRAM Red throughout except Cannondale’s SISL2 cranks. Vision Metron 81 wheels custom decaled to match the frame, FSA custom painted bar, stem, shifters, and seatpost.
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- Astana’s Specialized Tarmac S-Works is a bike I can vouch for. Featuring Corima Aero-S wheels, FSA seatpost, handlebars, and FSA-SLK pro issue slammed stem.
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- Belkin’s new Bianchi Oltre XR2 (similar to Vacansoleil’s bikes last year) features FSA bars and stem, integrated seatpost, Shimano external Di2 battery (the only one we saw), custom San Marco saddle colors, Pioneer powermeter (held on with zip ties and the most expensive powermeter on the market). Bianchi most definitely has the coolest headbadge in the bunch. This bike was Jack Bobridge’s.
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- This Colnago C59 belongs to Europcar’s Yukiya Arashiro and is painted in the colours of Japan’s national champion. Campagnolo EPS with internal battery, new Bora 35mm wheels, Deda integrated bar and stem custom painted to match the frame.
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- Besides the Conago C59 Europcar is using, the M10 Team Edition is also in their quiver of bikes (the only mechanical Super Record we saw), Sigma’s new GPS computer, Divee chain catcher and rear number mount.
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- Lampre is riding the Merida Reacto Evo with a colour scheme similar to last year. This particular one had last year’s Falcrum wheelset, stems painted to match the frame, Rotor crankset (they’re soon to be fitted with the Rotor powermeters), integrated rear brakes (mounted under the chainstay with an interesting quick release installed on the front cables -see the Avanti Corsa which is the same), S-Flex seatpost, Shimano Di2 groupset with sprint shifters.
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- Trek’s Madone Team Issue features the complete Bontrager system except for tyres (bar, stem, seatpost, saddle, wheels), Shimano Di2 with climbing shifters. The Shimano pedals have a longer axle than normal for Jens Voigt’s bold legged riding style. Fitting that Jens receives number 42.
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- Team Uni-SA is made up of Australia’s best up-and-coming riders, and this year most of them belong to Avanti-Racing (formerly Huon Genesys). They’re riding the new Avanti Corsa SL, new Shimano DuraAce 9000 SRM chainset, Di2 groupset with sprint shifters, C50 wheels (a very popular wheel in the pro peloton this year and last).
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- Lotto-Belisol’s Ridley Helium: Thompson seatpost positioned very far forwards for Adam Hansen, Deda Pista (track stem) massively slammed, 38cm bars, Campy Bora wheels. The interesting thing about this bike was there was a rubber strap fixed to the middle of the seat-tube when we borrowed the bike. It had magnets inside the rubber strap to turn off the internal Campy internal battery while it’s not being used. We’ll find out more details of why this needs to be done later…
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- Omega Pharma Quick-Step’s Specialized Venge (and they’re also riding the Tarmac) has to be another “Best in Show” this year in my opinion. SRAM groupset (with S-Works cranks), Quarq power meter, Zipp 404 front, 808 rear, zipp stem and bars. A tremendously “chunky” feel with the thick Zipp stem and wheels and Venge frameset.
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- Katusha is back again with Canyon and the interesting thing we picked up on this bike was on the Mavic Carbon Cosmic wheels. They usually feature rubber lip that overlaps the edge of the rim and the tyre (for aerodynamics). UCI rules won’t allow this so they needed to remove this defining feature of the wheel. Like many others, they’re still using the old Dura-ace 7000 series crankset to accommodate the old SRMs.