Welcome to Escape Collective. Please select your language.
Please note that this is an automated translation and it will not be perfect. All articles have been written in English and if anything appears to not make sense, please double check in English.
Marginal gains are for the masses; Pogi gets a new wheel, extensions, chainrings, power meter, disc rotor, and even an entirely new custom saddle concept.
It’s so far so good on Tadej Pogačar’s quest for a third Tour de France and an exceptional achievement in the modern-era Giro-Tour double.
One look at this bike and it is immediately obvious how little Pogačar and team are leaving to chance at this Tour. Here is a rider who won two Tours in a row amidst chatter of a decade of domination, only to then be twice humbled by Jonas Vingegaard in the years since. Now, in 2024, he is hell-bent on taking his third title, and marginal gains, maximal hacks, and extraordinary expense are very much part of the plan.
There are upgrades galore for Pogačar’s Colnago TT1 time trial bike. While the base frame is unchanged, practically everything else gets some form of update.Chiefly amongst those is this new seat post and saddle system, clearly designed to shed some grams and potentially offer some aero gains. The new seat post comes from Spanish components brand and weight-saving specialist Darimo. The main section of the post appears to be a lighter version of the standard Colnago TT1 seat post, but the upper section and seat post clamp is new and entirely different from the TT1 setup. The existing TT1 post features a sliding saddle clamp interface for greater fore-aft adjustment. This new seat post seemingly offers much less fore-aft adjustment and is presumably dialled in for Pogačar’s position. The saddle is also new and from Team UAE-Emirates saddle supplier Prologo. The saddle, already listed on the Prologo website for a cool £1,019, is “engineered for Tadej Pogačar” and officially named the Predator. With a carbon shell and minimal covering, it looks like it might offer additional weight savings. Presumably it’s also designed to improve comfort for Pogi in the TT position, and as such could offer significant – if immeasurable – aero gains if it enables him to adopt and sustain a more aerodynamic position.A tail on the saddle may do double duty in 1) bringing the saddle in line with the UCI’s minimum saddle length (240 mm) regulation and 2) potentially offering some marginal aero gain in acting like a splitter plate and smoothing the flow behind rider and bike.I say “seat post and saddle system” because both are clearly designed to integrate with each other. The saddle has unique, narrower, and seemingly flat rails, and the post has a matching clamp.The upshot of this design could be some increase in weight savings but it has also enabled Darimo to extend the aero profile on the seat post all the way up almost into the saddle shell, unlike standard posts which morph into a presumably less aero shape lower down and position the saddle up and out on its own.A closer look at the saddle. (photo – Prologo)Pogačar also gets new time trial extensions. He was racing with Enve-branded extensions as recently as the Giro, but now he gets these custom-looking and potentially 3D printed and/or carbon-wrapped extensions with integrated elbow rests and forward-swooping risers. Note the satellite shifter under the base bar grip. Many riders now prefer to add a satellite shifter under both Di2 brake levers and customise the shifter operation for a setup similar to that of STI levers with both shifter buttons on the right side controlling the up and down shifting for the rear derailleur and both buttons on the left controlling the front derailleur (when used with 2X drivetrains).The elbow cups are almost certainly Pogačar shaped… aka custom and oh so narrow. As are the forearm rests and grips.That head unit mount as as neatly integrated as they come. We can barely see the shifters poking out of the left hand grip.A little grip, or a lot in this case, goes a long way.Pogačar has turned back to an SRM Powermeter 9 and SRM Origin cranks, presumably in a bid for more weight savings. I do have to wonder if they’ve missed a trick here, though. Presumably Team UAE could have requested solid and potentially more aero carbon chainrings without the open sections at the spider. While heavier, they could also have found some aero gains in opting for Wattshop’s SRM-compatible Cratus crankset. Update: We have been reliably informed the cranks are actually the GP-3 Carbon Crank from CybreiThe chainrings are from Carbon-TI and are a common sight in the peloton these days… you know its all in on weight savings when the logo is actually a hollowed section in the carbon. While Carbon-Ti chainrings are a common sight, Carbon-Ti 60-46 chainrings are exceedingly more rare. Team UAE Emirates is also using Carbon-Ti brake rotors, and the team has opted for the new X-Rotor Aero 140, another new product with a hefty price tag, of €205. Note also the Absolute Black Graphen brake pads, identifiable by the lattice “backplate cooling fins” extending from the caliper.They aren’t done yet. Pogačar also has a new Enve front wheel, roughly about 100mm deep and first seen under Brandon McNulty at the US National TT Champs. Despite all the newbies, Tadej is running the GP 5000 TT TR and not the new Conti Aero 111 tyre unveiled this week and used by other teams at the Tour.That front wheel is paired with an Aerocoach Aeox Orbit disc wheel. Given all the aforementioned weight savings, it seems safe to assume this is the Aeox Ultra Orbit, said to be the “lightest tubeless disc at 980g” and priced at £1,916. That said about tire choices, this GP 5000 S TR on the rear looks used and, as such, has a whiff of “training bike” to it.These lightweight direct mount hangers are from Frames and Gear and are on most Team UAE Emirates bikes at this Tour .The TT1 was one of the first and still one of the only TT bikes to integrate the bottle this neatly..The UCI HATE it!Only one rider gets this level of maximal hacks.
