Sir Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) may have been on the outer since his stellar 2012 season, but he showed every British time triallist who was boss by winning the 2014 British TT championships on a hilly, technical and wet course. Wiggins clocked 53'56 for the 26 mile race, beating teammate Geraint Thomas by over a minute with Alex Dowsett (Movistar) finishing third.
Wiggins has been on the Pinarello Bolide since it launched in spring 2013. The Bolide was the successor to the Graal, the bike that Wiggins won the time trials in the 2012 Tour de France on. Decked out in gold livery, Wiggins' Bolide was unmistakeable as Sky's mechanics worked hard on it and his spare bike during the afternoon. Because of the wet and misty conditions they even took to punching holes in the team's Kask helmet visors to prevent them fogging up (smear of detergent, anyone?). Not that Wiggins was bothered - he rode visorless and still won by a comfortable margin.
Plenty of stack height on the front end of Wiggins' Bolide
Wiggins, who stands 1.9m tall, rides the largest sized Bolide with a seat tube height of 55cm. That isn't huge for a man of his height, which is why his extension pads are mounted atop several spacers to sit above the curved base bar. Other contact points are his Speedplay Zero Nanogram pedals and a fi'zi:k Ares saddle, which has a non-slip cover sewn on by the manufacturer so as not to fall foul of UCI regulations. Presumably the same goes for the grip tape that's used by Wiggins and many other riders on their handlebars...
Check out the Ares saddle gripper, courtesy of fi'zi:k
Some of the custom gear that Wiggins has used in the past is gone, though, most notably the square-oval OSymetric chainrings that he favoured in 2012 and previously. They've been replaced by Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 round rings. We're not entirely sure whether he ran a 54/39 combo or the 56/44 that featured on his spare bike, but we were informed that he went for an 11-28t rear cassette in order to cope with the savage hills on the Welsh course.
Track bolts secure the front HED GT3
Wiggo and his Sky teammates ran a Pro TeXtreme rear disc with a HED GT3 front wheel. We noted he used track bolts on the front rather than a skewer to save a little drag, but used a skewer on the rear as normal. The wheels were both shod with FMB 23mm tubulars, which matched the rim profiles as well as providing a little more grip than 20mm rubber on the tricky course.
Other accessories included a Garmin Edge 510 GPS computer attached to a K-Edge mount, and a Stages power meter on the left hand crank.
Complete bike specifications
- Frame: Pinarello Bolide
- Fork: Pinarello ONDA
- Headset: Pinarello integrated, 1 1/8-to-1 1/2in tapered
- Stem: Pinarello Bolide integrated
- Handlebars: Pinarello Bolide
- Tape/grips: Grip tape
- Front brake: Pinarello integrated
- Rear brake: Pinarello integrated
- Brake levers: Pinarello
- Front derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 FD-9070
- Rear derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 RD-9070
- Shift levers: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 TT
- Cassette: Shimano Dura-Ace CS-9000 11-28t
- Chain: Shimano Dura-Ace CN-9000
- Crankset: Shimano Dura-Ace FC-9000, 177.5mm, 54/39t
- Bottom bracket: Shimano Dura-Ace SM-BB9000
- Pedals: Speedplay Zero Nanogram
- Front wheel: HED GT3
- Front tyre: FMB 23mm tubular
- Rear wheel: Pro TeXtreme disc
- Rear tyre: FMB 23mm tubular
- Saddle: fi'zi:k Ares
- Seat post: Pinarello
- Computer: Garmin Edge 510
- Bottle cage: Elite Custom Race
- Other accessories: Stages Cycling power meter, K-Edge Garmin mount
Critical measurements
- Rider's height: 1.90m (6ft 3in)
- Rider's weight: 69kg (152lb)
- Seat tube length, c-t: 565mm
- Seat tube length, c-c: 550mm
- Head tube length: 110mm
- Top tube length: 545mm