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In part one of our bikes of the Tour of Flanders gallery, we looked at the bikes of two former winners, Lotte Kopecky and Alexander Kristoff. In part two, we take a closer look at one former winner’s new paint job, the new Giant TCR of the oh-so-close man of the monuments, and a lesser-known name optimising her bike better than most.
Michael Matthews raced Flanders on the new Giant TCR Advanced SL. Matthews and Jayco AlUla’s day went from jubilation to devastation after the race jury decided to relegate the Australian rider for what it deemed a sprint deviation. Nevertheless, the Team Jayco AlUla team colourway, despite its many colours, somehow works so well, especially on Matthew’s new TCR. The rest of the team raced on Giant’s Propel frame with a similar colourway. The paint may look similar but the differences in the TCR’s head tube, down tube, and seat stays are evident in this photo. Oh, shiny forks! Matthews raced on Cadex Ultra 50 tubeless wheels with 30 mm Corsa Pros. Like it or loathe it, the TCR has finally gone internal hose routing. The new Cadex Aero Integrated Handlebar is a key component of that shift to internal routing. Matthews chooses one of the longer stem length options, while the bars -10° stem angle adds to the aggressive look. Ports on the rear side of the bar tops next to the stem offer integrated Di2 satellite shifter housing. Matthews has his satellite shifters in the “sprinter shifter” position on the drops. Both Jayco AlUla’s Propels and TCRs all still feature the integrated seat post… hacksaw at the ready, folks.
Marga López’s Ridley Helium SLX
Amongst all the World Tour teams and big name riders, one bike stood out for me over at the Proximus – Cyclis CT team. That was Marga López’s Ridley Helium SLX Disc – not because it’s a particularly special paint job or even a new frame, but because it seems López has made a concerted effort to optimise as much of her setup as possible. The Helium is Ridley’s climber’s bike, with little consideration given to aerodynamics. The frame is, though, the team bike that Proximus – Cyclis CT has to work with, so López has taken to optimising as much as possible around that base frame constraint. Most notable compared to her teammates’ bikes is the 62 mm deep DT Swiss ARC 1100 wheelset wrapped in Continental’s GP 5000 S TR tyres setup tubeless. That immediately obvious aero upgrade somewhat hides some impressive attention to detail, such as these Silca Speed Shield valve covers.Waxed chain, oversized pulley wheels, and 54-tooth chainring combine for some drivetrain efficiency gains. Although that chain may need re-waxing pretty soon. The only other team-matching component on López bike (bar most of the groupset) is the aero-ish profiled Forza Cirrus Pro handlebars. Although one suspects López may have a true aero and narrower handlebars on the wish-list somewhere. All told, López has made considerable effort to optimise her team bike wherever possible. If my experience on Belgian continental teams is anything to go by, this optimisation almost certainly came at her own expense.
Alberto Bettiol’s limited edition Cannondale
EF Education – EasyPost raced Flanders on a limited paint job Cannondale SuperSix Evo 4 as seen here on Alberto Bettiol’s bike. The team’s usual white and pink paint job was replaced with a mostly black base colour topped with pink lightning bolts and white decals. Limited run paint jobs are often quite hit or miss, but in my opinion, Cannondale has hit the nail on the head with this one. No power meter for Bettiol, the ‘last of the romantics’. Instead, he opts for the FSA K-Force Team Edition crank with 54:40 chainrings. Bettiol was one of the only riders on EF at Flanders with the Momo Design SystemBar R-One carbon one-piece handlebar. Most others raced with FSA Metron bars or two-piece setups.
