This article was produced in collaboration with Cervélo and was first published in Rouleur Issue 139
Winning a Grand Tour is a rare feat and is one of the most unforgiving challenges in professional sport – it’s a multi-day war of attrition where form, fortune, and fortitude must align with a strong team around the leader and some state-of-the-art bikes. On the men’s side of the sport, Cervélo is one of just four brands to have provided bikes ridden to Grand Tour victory this decade.
The company equips Visma-Lease a Bike with a trusted fleet to deploy at the biggest races of the WorldTour calendar. In 2025 the team won three of the six major leader’s jerseys in men’s and women’s cycling, with Simon Yates’s triumph at the Giro d’Italia, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s win on debut at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and Jonas Vingegaard’s first red jersey win at the Vuelta a España. As we know, it takes multiple bikes to win a Grand Tour and to keep up with the ever-increasing demands of elite sport, Cervélo’s two flagship models — the R5 climbing bike and the S5 aero bike — were both updated this year.
Read more:
- ‘I am still in disbelief’ — Simon Yates on the maglia rosa, redemption and what’s next
- ‘I don’t really like racing but I like winning’ — Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s unrelenting path to the top
Cervélo R5: ready to climb
The fifth iteration of the R5 is as light as a feather. In fact it is so light that it doesn’t hit the UCI’s minimum weight requirement which stipulates that all bikes must be at least 6.8kg, meaning weight has to be added for it to be legally raced.
At just 5.97kg complete (in size 56), the R5 is one of the lightest bikes on the market, but it is also uncompromisingly stiff where it counts. This is a bike engineered for the highest mountains, like Ferrand-Prévot’s legendary ascent of the Col de la Madeleine in August.
Shaving 100 grams from the frame and fork alone, Cervélo’s engineers scrutinised every component, netting a total weight reduction of 326g from the previous model. The new 651g frame and 298g fork combine with a reworked HB18 one-piece cockpit, which is 150g lighter than the previous iteration.
Handling geometry remains true to the R5’s character – agile, intuitive, and planted – while a revised fit now mirrors the S5’s to give riders a more aggressive position and to allow team riders easy bike changes. New Reserve 34|37 SL wheels, designed specifically for the R5, contribute another 60g of savings without compromising stiffness or control. Paired with clearance for 29mm tyres, the R5 is as confident on the descent as it is explosive on the steepest ramps. All in all, it results in a sub-6kg race bike ready for the most brutal climbs, and one that descends with calm assurance. Light, fast, and utterly uncompromising – the R5 is built to rise.
Like the S5, flagship builds with both SRAM Red and SRAM Red XPLR are available as well as this gorgeous Dura-Ace setup.
Cervélo S5: built for speed
The S5’s iconic V-stem has been a fixture at the front of the Grand Tours and Monuments for a number of years now and it remains a key feature. However, the new bike has had some considerable updates. The latest model returns leaner, faster, and more focused than before – streamlined in the wind tunnel and then validated at the front of the peloton, starting with Ferrand-Prévot’s and Wout van Aert’s exploits at the Classics. With a 6.3-watt aerodynamic gain and a 124g weight saving, every millimetre of the new S5 has been shaped for speed without compromise.
Most of the gains are made up front, with a deeper head tube and fork legs. A newly refined one-piece cockpit builds on the distinctive V-stem design, now using Cervélo’s ‘Plus-Four’ concept: 4cm narrower at the hoods (38cm) for a sleeker rider profile, but wider in the drops (42cm) for control.
Co-developed with sister wheel brand Reserve, the new 57|64 Turbulent Aero wheels are custom-designed for the S5. Rear wheel asymmetry mirrors the seat tube profile, smoothing airflow and enhancing stability.
Integration defines this bike: every junction, every surface, every overlap of carbon is considered to minimise drag. From the sculpted front end to the tucked-in rear wheel cutouts, it’s built for speed on the flat. Despite the increased frontal surface, smart carbon layups and revised hardware help shed weight, delivering not just speed, but crucially responsiveness.
With SRAM Red XPLR AXS as a build option, the S5 benefits from the sleek simplicity of a 1x drivetrain with a wide-range 13-speed cassette for ultimate performance over changing terrain. Vingegaard rode the 1x aero chainring on the final stage of the Vuelta – there’s no better endorsement than that.
