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The Cervelo P5 has been among the benchmark World Tour time trial bikes over the past half-decade or so since its last update. But as in any sport, standing still is falling behind, and it seems Cervelo now has a new P5 with the entire Visma-Lease a Bike squad racing the new bike in today's Volta Algarve time trial stage.
The stage result didn't go Visma or Cervelo's way in the Algarve, but the new bike, although appearing similar at first glance, features plenty of updates. Van Aert, Vingegaard, and their Visma teammates will be hoping those updates prove to be upgraded, although, on the face of it, many of them appear to be targeting gravitational forces rather than aerodynamic drag. That's a trend we expect to see gather at pace in coming months and years as many race organisers turn to ever hillier time trials in an attempt to add some spice to the race of truth.
Escape Collective contacted Cervelo for comment on the new bike, but unsurprisingly, the brand didn't want to reveal too much just yet, simply stating, "At this stage, we cannot comment in detail; the team is testing a new TT bike." Nevertheless, in the meantime, we can speculate: here's what we think we see in the new bike.
At a glance this Cervelo looks like the existing Cervelo P5, but a closer look reveals the bike features several subtle upgrades from the hugely successful existing rig. Subtle upgrades were the theme when Cervelo quietly rolled out the new S5 around this time two years ago, and the P5 follows in a similar vein with the entirely Visma-Lease a Bike squad racing in Algarve aboard the new bike.Existing (left) and new (right) Cervelo P5s side-by-side. Starting at the front there are a few obvious updates. The front nose cone on the bayonet external steerer-type fork remains but doesn't seem quite so deep on the new bike pictured under Wout van Aert on the right. This decreased depth is evident both in looking at the general width of the external steerer in front of the head tube and also by the less pronounced overbite on the lower side of the nose cone. That nose cone seems to have been given the same treatment as that on the new S5, with a new one-piece design and an S5-matching update to the handlebar attachment/stem area. These updates helped shave some weight from the S5 and, thankfully, made the front end much quicker and easier to adjust. The fork legs look pretty similar on both bikes, although it does appear the thru-axle housing has been cleaned up a little (more evident in the next photo) but the lip transitioning from fork crown to down tube now seems much shallower, perhaps opening up space for increased airflow through the fork between the tyre and the lower side of the fork crown. This increased gap continues onto the down tube where the gap between front tyre and down tube cut out is now noticeably wider than with the previous generation P5. Cervelo may have increased the depth of the head tube slightly, but either way, they seem to have dropped the tapering profile and may have introduced a more pronounced Kammtail profile on the head tube's trailing edge.Furthermore, the new top tube ditches some of its lower edge curves in favour of a much straighter profile across its length, while some of the most obvious updates are to the new compensation triangle connecting the inside of the top tube and seat tubes which is now seemingly shallower and features sharper angles. That said, Cervelo has still found a way to increase the overall surface area in this space with a new, much larger seat stay to seat tube interface on the opposite side of the seat tube. The seat tube itself has lost some of its rear wheel hugging volume, and now features a noticeable gap from tube to rear tyre, presuming both riders are using similarly sized tyres in each photo.This more head-on shot gives a clearer indication of the increased gap between tyre and fork crown. While the new bike may offer increased tyre clearance, this increased space could be about improving airflow over and through the front end. These shots also highlight the updates to the new head tube, top tube, and the new shoulder on the rearmost end of the top tube, which flows directly into the seat stays. Again, existing on the left, new on the right.That new top tube now features a much more pronounced shoulder as it sharply veers down, seemingly from somewhere around the mid-point of the seat post into the new seat stays.Cervelo had one of the fastest time trial bikes in the World Tour with its existing P5 and will no doubt want to improve on that with the new generation, but there are also clear attempts to save weight also most likely motivated by the ever hillier time trials race organisers are including in many races.It seems the mono-riser front end has also changed as every rider raced with basic stock time trial extensions rather than the custom-made carbon Vision extensions many had on their previous bikes.While we didn't get a clear look at the saddles, it seems Visma-Lease a Bike is now using Dash Cycles Stage time trial saddles.New bike aside, I want to know what's down Julien Vermote's back.
