Could this be the new Specialized Venge? - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Jungels' bike ran Shimano Dura-Ace disc rotors at the front and non-series rotors at the rear - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
The stem face plate looks to have an integrated computer mount - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Flared seat stays allow air to flow through the frame as well as around it - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Black electrical tape masks where the frame decals usually sit - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
The seat post looks to widen at the top, presumable to house the Di2 junction box - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
The flat-topped Aerofly bars have a tradional design of an aero handlebar - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
A look at the non-drive side of the bike - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
The new fork design looses the oversized crown, while a swoop at the top of the down tube may reduce air turbulance as it passes the frame - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
The front derailleur mount looks to be removable, allowing for a tidy setup in a 1X option - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
A closer look at the fork crown and down tube design - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
The Di2 junction box looks to be located at the top of the seat post - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Only disc brake versions of the bike were seen and it would be no surprise if a rim brake version was not offered by Specialized - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Jakobsen rolls to the start of stage one on the new aero bike - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
A look at the rear triangle on the bike - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
The top tube appears to slope less than the current Venge - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Jakobsen and Jungels had a slightly different stem cap setup to the two Bora-Hansgrohe bikes - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
The chainstays on the new frame are slightly deeper than the current Venge, but retains a similar aero design with seatstays that come away from the seat tube - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
The thru-axle fork looks wider than the current Venge and has a square-taper at the bottom, perhaps taken from the latest fork design on the S-Works Shiv TT bike - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
The bottom bracket is a CeramicSpeed BB30 system - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
A wedge-system looks to secure the seat post in a similar way to the latest Specialized Tarmac SL6 - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Fabio Jakobsen and Bob Jungels were the two Quick-Step Floors riders on the new bikes - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Peter Kennaugh appeared to be running the Aerofly handlebars on his Tarmac, suggesting they are compatible with a regular stem setup - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
As with the previous Venge, the frame looks to have a proprietary stem system - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Rudi Selig and Lukas Postlberger looked to be on the new bikes for Bora-Hansgrohe - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Two tensioning bolts are located on the non-driveside of the stem - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Young Dutch sprinter Fabio Jakobsen raced stage 1 of the Dauphine on the new bike - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Quick-Step Floors and Bora-Hansgrohe lined up for the opening road race stage of the Criterium du Dauphine with two riders from each team aboard a previously unseen aero bike from bike sponsor Specialized. The new bike shares several design features from the current iteration of the aero-specific S-Works Venge model and although the frame model decals on the chainstays were masked with electrical tape, it is highly likely this is an updated S-Works Venge Disc frameset.
Several subtle design updates appear on the new frame. However the most obvious update looks the be on the forks. A deeper fork blade, square-taper at the dropout area (although the forks are thru-axle) and the removal of the deep fork crown on the current model all seem to be design features taken from the latest Shiv fork - Specialized's time trial frameset.
At the head of the down tube, an indent in the tube looks to encourage stability as air flows over the frame.
Like the fork, several areas of the frame seem to have deeper, truncated tubing, which is likely to reduce turbulence and improve aerodynamics. The most obvious tubing design updates are on the aforementioned fork alongside the seat stays and head tube.
The new fork design looses the oversized crown, while a swoop at the top of the down tube may reduce air turbulance as it passes the frame - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
While the current version of the Venge appears to have more of a sloping down tube, the new frameset seen at the Dauphine appears to have a flatter profile and loses the raised crown at the head of the top tube.
Interestingly, at first glance the seatpost looks to be similar to the existing Venge-specific post, the seatpost flares at the top just below the saddle to accommodate the Di2 junction box to the rear, which keeps the frame profile as smooth as possible.
As with the existing Venge - and is a common trend with the latest marquee framesets - the aero bike appears to have an integrated stem system, although Quick-Step Floors and Bora-Hansgrohe looked to have different stem cap systems.
As well as the new frame and stem, new aero handlebars were seen on the new bikes and Peter Kennaugh (Bora-Hansgrohe) also looked to be running them on a regular stem on his S-Works Tarmac SL6 frameset. Labelled up as S-Works Aerofly, the swoop, shape and carbon lay-up look to be different from the current iteration of the range-topping aero handlebars.
The flat-topped Aerofly bars have a tradional design of an aero handlebar - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
The four bikes spotted at the Criterium du Dauphine were all equipped with disc brakes. As with the latest Specialized Roubaix, it is highly likely Specialized will only produce a disc version of the frameset as key design features of the fork and rear end would need to be redesigned for calipers.
Click or swipe through the gallery above for a detailed look at the new aero frameset from Specialized.
The Di2 junction box looks to be located at the top of the seat post - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
