The Critérium du Dauphiné is a key warm-up race for the Tour de France.
Given its proximity to the start of the big one, the Dauphiné offers tech-hungry bike journalists a chance to photograph new kit as teams test their setups within the heat of a race.
This year provided a bumper crop of new race bikes, with a generous four on display.
Trek teased a new, seemingly slimmed-down Madone. Pinarello gave Ineos a new Dogma F, Canyon made minor changes to the Aeroad CFR and Wilier gave an unpainted mystery bike to FDJ’s general classification hope David Gaudu.
Amid all this overwhelming newness were old-school hacks, plenty of pro-only mods and some new tech.
Hacks
Picture this if you will – you’re the designer of a super-expensive aero bike that has taken three, maybe four years to design.
Your baby has reached the heady heights of a key Tour de France warm-up race and you go to see it being put to good use under the stars of cycling.
But what’s that? Electrical tape. Everywhere.
It must be rather annoying for riders to find the rubber bung on a top cap bolt has a habit of popping up – it’s likely heartbreaking for a designer.
The Bianchi Specialissima of Arkéa-B&B Hotels required a little tape to secure this part. It didn’t impact how the bike rode, but it's a frustrating finish issue nonetheless.
Fabric tape was also deployed on computer mounts to reduce the rattling caused by a gap in the interface.
Elsewhere, Israel-Premier Tech mechanics add pieces of grip tape to the bottle cages to reduce instances of lost bidons.
With wheels potentially sitting in a van for weeks on end, team mechanics use simple date stamps to keep on top of sealant refresh intervals.
While Remco Evenepoel has new wheels, his Soudal Quick-Step team continues to use S-Works Turbo Cotton clincher tyres with latex inner tubes.
As a result, the valves are taped down to prevent rattling.
New hoops
Newmen and Roval both had new wheels on show, although given neither has been officially released, the finer details such as rim profiles aren’t available. Each wheelset has an interesting feature, while the latter also offers the riders some precious sparkle watts.
The wheels of Evenepoel and Primož Roglič feature a lightweight lacing pattern on the front wheel, suggesting Roval has shaved some weight off the already impressive Rapide CLX II and produced what could be the Roval Rapide CLX III.
The hubs are also seriously shiny, setting them apart from the ranks of all-black wheels.
The coolest aero trick, however, was the nifty rubber bung covering the valve hole on the Newmen rims. It may only save one watt, possibly even less, but it makes the wheels look very slick.
It was interesting to see the TT version of Continenal’s GP5000 TR tyres being used for road stages. It’s a strategy we also saw the Ineos and UAE teams using to reduce rolling resistance.
Doing so will likely lead to more tyre changes throughout the season because TT tyres often use the thinnest treads and casings possible. In the pursuit of speed, it’s a sacrifice worth making.
Make it a pro bike
Lidl-Trek has taken time to make its new Madones look extra blingy with accented rotor lockrings.
And while eyes were drawn to the IsoFlow seat tube design, Lidl-Trek’s paint scheme has seen a lot of love – it’s very La Vie Claire.
Pros spend a shocking amount of time on their saddles throughout the year, so having the perfect perch sometimes means going outside your sponsored options.
Jai Hindley is one of two Bora riders on an unbranded perch. The shape suggests Fizik, but we’re not 100 per cent certain.
The other is Marco Haller, who appears to have a covered version of a 3D-printed design from outside of the Specialized parish.
Trek’s new bike is widely reported to be a lighter Madone, putting the Émonda under threat of extinction, like Specialized and the Venge.
But they’ve been having fun with us before the official launch, sticking a Madone decal over an Émonda logo. Does this confirm a convergence of the two designs, perhaps?
We love that Team EF Education-EasyPost had matched its tubeless valves to the riders' kit. The team uses Muc-Off products for tubeless setup and the best way to highlight these small details is through the medium of bright colours.
Is it even a tech galley if you haven’t got a shot of Jonas Rutsch’s scaffolding? The 1.97m German uses a stonking 170mm stem to get his fit just so.
The shiniest bike on show award went to Evenepoel’s Tarmac SL8. Specialized has really knocked this one out of the park. Chrome into faded copper into a glossy midnight black front end? We love it.
The Roval Rapide bar has even been painted.
Tubulars? In 2024?
Judging by the unpainted new bike on the top of the FDJ car, Wilier has gone to great lengths to design a new do-it-all road race bike for its pro racers.
If you want to know which pro riders are still using tubular tyres – despite clear evidence that tubeless is faster – then look no further than FDJ's David Gaudu and Guillaume Martin of Cofidis.
Gaudu had the Continental Competition Pro Ltd in a size 28mm glued to Dura-Ace C50 wheels. Maybe he’s trying to bring the weight of this unreleased Wilier down as close to the UCI’s minimum weight limit as possible.
Martin, meanwhile, used a set of unbranded tyres. Cofidis is sponsored by Michelin, which makes the Power Cup in tubular form. But the sidewalls and tread look different from the Michelin design.
It must make designers wince to spend countless hours saving watts in the wind tunnel for riders to throw those gains away by using outdated tyre tech.
