Peter Sagan will ride this custom Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7 at the 2021 UCI Road World Championships in Flanders this weekend.
The Tarmac SL7 was released last year and is Specialized’s top-flight road bike. This particular model has been taken from the 2021 Sagan collection.
From afar, the bike looks to be fairly austere, but a close-up view reveals subtle gold highlights on the top tube.
The moulded badge, as seen on the Sagan Collection Specialized Aethos, has also been fitted to the front face of the seat tube.
The three-time world champion's bike is decked out in a full Shimano Dura-Ace 9170 Di2 groupset (we’re yet to see a sniff of Dura-Ace 9200 on any pro’s bike).
Sagan’s bike is fitted with aftermarket 14-tooth alloy jockey wheels that feature a narrow-wide profile. Standard Shimano road pulley wheels are made from hard-wearing thermoplastic and have a standard tooth profile. The bike also has a standard short Shimano cage.
Peter Sagan has a long-standing relationship with CeramicSpeed, which is well known for its oversized aftermarket jockey wheels.
CeramicSpeed’s range includes a set of 14-tooth jockey wheels, though these are officially designed to work with 12-speed Shimano mountain bike groupsets. While there’s no branding to be seen on the jockey wheels, it seems likely these are from the brand, which we have approached for comment.
Whoever makes the jockey wheels, Sagan is clearly convinced there’s an advantage to using them over stock Shimano options – perhaps the narrow-wide profile could improve chain retention over the rough cobbled sections that form part of the Belgium course? We’ll update this story once we get confirmation.
The bike is specced with a pair of Roval Rapide CLX wheels and 26mm-wide Specialized Turbo Cotton clinchers. Whether or not Sagan will actually ride clinchers over his typically favoured tubular tyres remains to be seen.
Sagan will move from Bora-Hansgrohe to Team TotalEnergies for the 2022 season, with Specialized following the current Slovakian road race champion to his new team.
Peter Sagan's custom Tarmac SL7 for the 2021 UCI World Championships specs
- Frameset: Specialized S-Works Sagan Collection Tarmac SL7
- Drivetrain: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9170 with aftermarket pulley wheels, 11-30 cassette
- Crankset: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100P, 172.5mm, 53/39
- Saddle: Specialized S-Works Romin Evo
- Handlebar: Specialized S-Works Aerofly II
- Tape: Supacaz Super Sticky Kush
- Stem: Tarmac integrated stem -6 degree
- Wheels: Roval Rapide CLX
- Tyres: Specialized Turbo Cotton 26mm
