Jonas Vingegaard has the choice of three framesets he can ride in the defence of his Tour de France title: the aero S5, the Soloist and this, the lightweight Cervélo R5.
The Cervélo R5 is a classic piece of road racing design, and remains distinctive in the pro peloton thanks to its more traditional silhouette.
Instead, Cervélo has focussed much of its substantial aero expertise on its Reserve wheels. Here, Vingegaard is running the Reserve 42/49 TA wheels That stands for Turbulent Aero technology, wherein aero testing has been conducted in a variety of different wind conditions simulated in a wind tunnel to provide the most realistic outdoor performance.
Perhaps more quantifiable is their mismatched depth, which is not uncommon across the professional peloton wherein the shallower front wheel does not compromise handling in windy conditions but the deeper rear provides stiffness and an aerodynamic advantage.
The Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres are in a unconventional 29c width and designed to be used with a 25mm wide rim - that’s referring to the internal rim width of the tyre.
It’s likely that Vittoria are producing a tyre in this size because of standards relating to hookless rims – it’s no longer advised to run a 28mm tyre on a 25mm rim. Reserve, and other wheel manufacturers, were likely designing wheelsets around a 28c tyre width, therefore a 29c tyre mitigates losses aerodynamically.
Visma Lease A Bike is running Vision Metron one piece bar and stems across its fleet of R5 bikes. As is common, these bars accommodate the cables entirely inside before channelling them into the head tube of the bike, reducing drag by a claimed 25 watts, according to Cervélo.
The bike is equipped with a SRAM Red AXS groupset, set up with a 52/39 tooth chainring and paired with a 10-36t cassette. With the groupset’s recent update, Vingegaard is now using the SRAM Red hoods, whereas last year he opted to run the SRAM Force versions over the bulkier SRAM Red options.
The bike’s eye-catching frame colour is a one-off special for the 111th Tour de France, celebrating its grand depart in Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance. It was a period of history wherein humanity, knowledge and progress were prioritised – perhaps we’ll consider Vingegaard akin to Michelangelo should he win his third Tour de France.
