Having secured another podium spot at the Giro d’Italia earlier this year, Geraint Thomas is riding the 2024 Tour de France as more of a domestique for Ineos Grenadiers.
While the former yellow jersey winner may not quite be the force he once was, his longevity continues to impress – the Welshman has now ridden more than 250 stages at the Tour de France.
As a veteran of the peloton, then, you might think Thomas wouldn’t be on the cutting edge in terms of bike setup and tech – but think again.
We got up close and personal with his new Pinarello Dogma F at the Grand Depart in Florence.
Though it may look similar to the Dogma F we saw ahead of the 2022 Tour de France, there have been plenty of interesting changes – if you know where to look.
New Dogma… same as the old Dogma?
It might look very similar to the 2021 Dogma F, but this latest version features a number of small changes designed to keep it competitive with the pack.
The all-rounder racing bike has seen subtle tweaks to its aerodynamics, with a claimed reduction of 0.2 per cent to its overall Cda (drag coefficient multiplied by area) compared to its predecessor.
The key changes are the slimmed down head tube with a deeper trailing edge, slimmed fork legs, a deepened ‘Aero-Keel’ bottom bracket zone and cleaner shrouded dropouts.
The ‘Aero-Keel’ bottom bracket is perhaps the most noticeable change, when viewed from the non-driveside. It sees the bottom bracket extend forward towards the front wheel, with the increased surface area claimed to help smooth the airflow off the front wheel and improve pedalling stiffness.
Under the skin, the frame’s carbon layup has also been reworked. The frameset features new Toray M40X carbon fibre – said to be higher-modulus than the old Torayca T1110 1K used previously – in strategic areas to improve stiffness.
Pinarello says this carbon fibre was used previously on its special-edition X-Light framesets, which employed higher-modulus carbon to achieve a lower weight than would otherwise be possible.
Yet while its X-Light framesets typically carried a weight limit of 85kg, the new Dogma F is rated for up to 120kg.
The MOST Talon Ultra Fast integrated handlebar has also been updated.
There's more on Thomas’ specific choice to come, but it’s said to save 40g alone, contributing to the 108g total claimed saving across the frameset (incorporating the frame, fork, seatpost and handlebar as a system on a size-53 bike).
The frame itself is only responsible for 5g of weight saving, according to Pinarello.
However, the Italian brand is clear that it deliberately focused on improving the frameset’s aerodynamic efficiency instead of attempting to make it lighter, because its research indicated doing so offers greater performance benefits for its pro riders.
Tyre clearance has also been increased to a claimed 30mm. That's not as wide as on Jonas Vingegaard’s Cervélo R5, which can accommodate tyres up to 34mm wide, for example – but more than enough to fit the 700x28c Continental GP5000 S TR tyres Thomas is running.
What has Geraint been fettling with?
With much of the peloton now adopting narrower handlebars in a bid to improve aerodynamics, the multiple Olympic track cycling champion has done the same.
At this year’s Tour, we measured Thomas’ MOST Talon Ultra Fast handlebar at 35cm across (centre-to-centre at the brake hoods), 3cm narrower than the 38cm bar we saw Thomas with two years ago.
In theory, this should reduce Thomas’ frontal area, saving vital watts as the race unfolds.
The drops on the new MOST handlebar are also flared out by 7 degrees, for improved control when descending or sprinting.
A lengthy 130mm stem ensures he’s getting the reach he wants, without having to size up to what might be considered his natural frame size (in time-honoured pro tradition).
His saddle has also changed – Thomas was one of the last remaining riders sporting a Fizik Arione perch in 2022, but he has since changed to a 137mm-wide Prologo Nago R4 PAS saddle.
Such a switch is often driven by the rider (given saddle comfort is so subjective, it’s not uncommon to see blacked-out seats from non-sponsored brands), but Thomas appears happy with the Nago following the team’s partnership with the brand as official saddle supplier.
The team’s mechanics have no excuse for getting the saddle position wrong though, given they’ve marked the saddle clamping points down.
As on the previous Dogma F, the new version gets a cool (and expensive) 3D-printed titanium saddle clamp to help keep weight low.
We think it’s a minor shame that the new bike has dropped any recognition of Thomas’ previous yellow jersey win, though. His 2022 bike featured a little yellow stripe on the seat tube in acknowledgment.
Full Shimano Dura-Ace… of course
Because the Ineos Grenadiers team is sponsored by Shimano, it’s no surprise to see Thomas is using the Japanese brand’s flagship Dura-Ace Di2 R9200 groupset.
Like many in the peloton, he’s opted for a 54/40-tooth crankset, complete with Shimano’s FC-R9200-P power meter. Hidden neatly behind the inner ring is a chain catcher with an integrated cadence magnet (which is required by Shimano’s power meter).
An 11-34t cassette featured when we got our hands on the bike at the Grand Depart in Florence, but that comes as no surprise given the hilly nature of the opening stages.
It’s possible Thomas will be switching to the alternative 11-30t cassette for the flat stages.
Shimano also provides its Dura-Ace C50 carbon wheels, which are fitted with the aforementioned GP5000 S TR tyres.
Notably, Thomas is using a set of special-edition ‘stealth’ tyres that Continental released to celebrate its association with the race (the German tyre brand is a key partner of the event and a sponsor of many WorldTour teams).
Quite why a brand would opt to make a special-edition tyre that's less conspicuous than the standard version for such an important race (the Tour is often described at the sport’s shop window) is somewhat difficult to understand. However, given we’ve highlighted it, perhaps Continental has achieved its aims.
These tyres measured 30.2mm wide on the rims, maximising the claimed clearance in the frameset while leaving a little room left over.
As he and his teammates often do, Thomas has also been using wheels from Princeton CarbonWorks on select stages.
Thomas used the lightweight Alta 3532 wheelset on stage 11, for example, and the Mach 7580 TSV2 tri-spoke front wheel and Blur 633 V3 disc wheel during the time trial on stage 7.
Up front, Thomas is using a new MOST 3D-printed computer mount to fasten his Garmin Edge 840 Solar device.
Although Pinarello hasn’t offered any details on it, it appears to be designed to smooth the airflow over the underside of the bike computer, likely for a small additional aerodynamic improvement.
The team told us the bike weighs 7.2kg (without bottles), although wouldn’t allow us to verify this by putting it on our own Scales of Truth.
A last hurrah for Thomas?
With the Welshman set to retire at the end of 2025, this could be one of the last times we see Geraint Thomas at the Tour.
His team leader, Carlos Rodríguez, sits sixth overall, 11mis 27secs behind race leader Tadej Pogačar, so the yellow jersey looks out of reach for the British team.
Might Thomas be afforded some opportunities to sneak away for a shot at a stage win at this year’s race? We certainly hope so.
