The blue, red and gold are immediately apparent, but the subtle rainbow flag extensions symbolizing world titles are a nice touch - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Three Days of De Panne finished with a double-stage on the third day: a road stage in the morning and a time trial in the afternoon - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Guess who this Pinarello Bolide TT machine belongs to? - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
When you rack up this many wins, you can have your own paint scheme - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Fizik is supplying Team Sky with traction patches sewn onto the Antares saddles - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Wiggins has a custom bar setup - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Many riders and mechanics prefer grip tape to bulkier handlebar tape for TT bars - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The handmade tubulars of FMB are popular this time of yaer - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
While many riders are following the wider-is-better trend, Wiggins is holding the line with 23mm tubulars - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The custom bars include Di2 shift buttons on the cowhorns - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The stock Di2 TT shifters are wrapped with griptape for traction when Wiggins is holding onto the tips - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
An integrated brake cover provides a clean presentation to the eye and the wind - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Sometimes the simple solutions are the best; electrical tape keeps the valve stem from rattling in the wheel - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
While many Team Sky riders use Shimano pedals, Wiggins and his teammate Viviani prefer Speedplay - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Very few riders in the world require such monstrously large gearing - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The rear-entry dropouts on the Bolide are scored for precision and grip - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
No cheap name stickers here - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
K-Edge provides the computer mount - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Wiggo's teammates are also on Pinarello Bolides, but with the stock team graphics - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Most riders at De Panne elected to use 50mm front wheels paired with a disc - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
It's not Paris-Roubaix yet, but the handmade tubulars from FMB are already in use - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Elia Viviani has his mud-shedding Speedplay Pave pedals on his road bike, along with the Stages power meter that Team Sky is using for the second year - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Movistar's Canyon Speedmax is well-paired with Campy's matching Bora Ultra wheels, Fizik saddles and even the SRM power meter spider - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Hey, pros can get flats on their warm-up rides too, you know - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Luke Durbridge's Scott Plasma - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The matching, nose-padded Arione is slammed back, somewhat unusual for a TT bike, with Di2 bits dangling front and rear - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The Di2 junction box is zip-tied under the nose - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
And the first-generation Di2 battery is custom-mounted to the saddle rails - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
K-Edge provides the SRM Power Control 7 mount while grip tape provides low-bulk traction - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Team edition tape finishes off the cowhorn bartape nicely - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
K-Edge has a relatively new chain guard that doubles as a magnet mount, meaning mechanics don't have to glue one onto the frame for use with an SRM power meter (SRM power meters use the magnet to measure cadence) - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
What's the big ring on your bike? - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Not so long ago, you'd never find a 25mm-wide tubular in the pro peloton. Now they are fairly common, even in time trials - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Along the De Panne time trial was less than 15km long, Gregory Rast has two spares on the roof of his follow car - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Trek Factory Racing ran Aeolus wheels in the 50, 70 and even 90mm depths - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
For the flat TT, Rast probably never even used the 42t small ring - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Veloflex tubulars get a little more air for time-trial stages - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Trek's Speed Concept bars offer exceptionally low frontal profile, while Shimano Di2 means shifting isn't at all compromised. (Tight bends on internally routed mechanical cables often wreak havoc on shifting performance due to increased friction) - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Trek's DuoTrap ANT sensor on the chainstay chain measure cadence and speed, and relay that data wirelessly to any head unit like a Garmin - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The DuoTrap does require a magnet on the wheel for measuring speed - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Road helmets, aero road helmets and brand new TT lids still in the bag all wait at the ready for Trek Factory riders - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Continental team 3M arrived with a few different configurations of Cannondale Slice TT rigs, including this one for Geert Van Der Weijst - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Two 3M riders used Magura's hydraulic rim brakes. Note the uncut steerer tube on Van Der Weijst's Slice - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
3M's bikes were set up a little rougher than the WorldTeam machines - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Tape masks most of the Prologo saddle logos on the Selle Italia-sponsored team - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
A blank DT Swiss disc sits among the Vision wheels - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
This can't be comfortable - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
For team 3M, some riders had integrated Slice brakes, some had SRAM Red road calipers and two had Magura hydrualic rim brakes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
WorldTour teams like BMC, on the other hand, have their bikes largely homogenized and buttoned up - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
While Di2 routing offers gear shifting regardless of tight bends, it is not without its challenges - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Team Cult Energy raced Ridleys with Black Disc wheels. This was the only road machine we spotted with a disc - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Yes, it is - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Most of Cult Energy had Black Disc wheels. A few sported Zipp models for the time trial - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The old reliable DT Swiss provides hubs for the Black Disc wheels - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Two different versions of Schwalbe Ones adorn Team Cult wheels - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Team Cult's 80mm front wheels were on the deeper side of what was used at the De Panne time trial, with more riders opting for something around 50mm - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Some teams use K-Edge mounts. Others use electrical tape - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Mads Petersen gets his aero road helmet cleaned off from the morning's road stage - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Rompoot Oranje Peloton races Isaac. This is Ivar Silk's Muon - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The tri-spoke isn't a new design, but it's hard to beat in terms of aerodynamics - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Most Argon 18 riders used Vision 3-Spokes up front and the Metron Discs — which are basically 80mm wheels with covers — in the rear - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
You say tri-spoke, Vision says 3-Spoke - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Andreas Schllinger uses camoflouged HED wheels - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Astana's Specialized Shivs with Corima wheels and discs - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The Specialized Sitero saddle on Dmitry Gruzdev's Shiv - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The top tube of Andrea Guardini's smaller Shiv frame rises up to meet the integrated bar. Note Gruzdev's flat set-up at left - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
No matter how good it is, how fast it is or how well it fits, nothing is getting onto the starting ramp without the UCI signing off on it. Here, a bike is placed in a UCI jig to ensure compliance - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
A few of the world's best joined a few second-tier teams in a battle against the clock for the final stage of Three Days of De Panne, a Belgian warm-up race ahead of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins stormed to the win aboard a custom-painted Pinarello Bolide.
With gold targets decorating the length of the top tube commemorating world-championship and Olympic wins, Wiggins' white Bolide cruised over a 14.8km course in De Panne, a coastal Belgian town near France.
The bike itself was not new, a Bolide frameset with the custom-fabricated carbon bars replete with custom Di2 buttons, Shimano Dura-Ace gear (with 56/44 chainrings) and PRO wheels, Stages power meter and an Antares saddle with a grip patch Fizik has stitched onto the nose for Team Sky riders.
A few days after the phenomenally windy Gent-Wevelgem that blew bikes and riders off the road, the De Panne time trial was still affected by gusts. But riders didn't alter their wheels choice much if at all.
Veteran BMC team mechanic Ian Sherburne said in all his years of working for pro teams, he's never seen a rider choose to go with a road bike instead of a time trial bike — no matter how windy it is. "Wheel choice will vary by rider — it's scaled by the size of the guy and their personal preference in relation to the wind and course — but I've never seen it so windy that a rider would ask for a road bike."
Most riders used a rear disc and a front wheel in the 50mm depth.
For a detailed look at the time trial bikes and gear of teams from Team Sky to 3M, look through the gallery above.
Fizik is supplying team sky with traction patches sewn onto the antares saddles: fizik is supplying team sky with traction patches sewn onto the antares saddles
Fizik sewed these grip patches on Antares saddles for Team Sky
Ben Delaney is a journalist with more than two decades of experience writing for and editing some of the biggest publications in cycling. Having studied journalism at the University of New Mexico, Ben has worked for Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, VeloNews and BikeRadar. He has also previously worked as Global Brand Communications Manager for Specialized. Ben covers all things road and gravel, and can be found logging big miles in the Rocky Mountains that nestle alongside his home in Boulder, Colorado. He has covered the most important bike races in the sport, from the Tour de France and Tour of Flanders, to the Unbound gravel race, and specialises in tech content, showcasing what the pros are riding and putting everyday equipment through its paces.
This website is owned and published by Our Media Ltd. www.ourmedia.co.uk
