While the Tour de France has now wrapped up and a focus is, for many of us, turning to the Olympic Games, the Transcontinental Race (TCR), one of many blue riband occasions of the extremely racing calendar, has simply acquired underway.
For these of you unfamiliar with the Transcontinental it’s an unsupported race with no set route, tackled in a single stage; the clock by no means stops. After setting off from Roubaix in northern France the rivals must hit 4 checkpoints throughout Europe earlier than ending in Istanbul, Turkey. The distance can be round 4,000km, although this is dependent upon the route the riders plot.
Looking by our tech gallery from the Tour de France you will seemingly discover that the variation from bike to bike, and even from group to group is comparatively minor. Similar gear is utilized by the entire peloton, and whereas we get excited in regards to the newest hacks, there is not a lot scope, thanks primarily to sponsor commitments, for any actual selection.
Ultra racers, whereas they could have sponsor commitments, have much more of a free hand to switch their machines, and as such the bikes on the beginning line range wildly. The Transcontinental Race is road-based, so street and gravel bikes dominate, however on off-road occasions, the setups range much more.
In addition to hurry, riders should think about reliability, lighting, baggage, and above all, consolation, because the main riders usually spend 70+ hours driving in a single stint with barely a handful of minutes of relaxation.
We’ve rounded up 9 bikes from contained in the well-known Roubaix Velodrome so you may nerd out on the setups. Whether any of them will get to Istanbul first is one thing we must wait, and watch dots slowly move on a map, to search out out. I’ve included the rider’s cap numbers together with their bikes must you want to discover out the place they have to.
Telbert James’ {custom} Telbert – Cap 269b
Always good to kick off with somebody native (to the Cyclingnews HQ at the very least). Telbert James rides for Audax Club Bristol, and is racing the TCR a couple of Telbert body he made himself. The body is created from Columbus Spirit tubing with a Columbus Futura carbon fork. The drivetrain is SRAM Rival with a 43/30 chainset and a 10-36 cassette on the again. A Hunt 4Season Superdura wheelset, that includes a SON dynamo hub up entrance, is paired with a set of Continental GP5000 S TR tyres.
Luggage is taken care of by a Tailfin (additionally a Bristol firm) rear rack and aeropack, complemented by a Tailfin half-frame bag and prime tube bag. Aero bars will not be obligatory, however everybody runs them for consolation causes in addition to aero, and on this case, they’re from Profile, with a Supernova entrance gentle slung off the aero bars relatively than the handlebars.
The paint is fairly spectacular, however I’ve been unable to trace down who painted it.
Sherry Cardona’s Fara F/All-Road – Cap 295b
Fara could not essentially be a family identify for you but, however I’ve already examined out the model’s Fara F/Road bike and really a lot loved it. My companion additionally purchased an F/All-Road for herself, so I is probably not in one of the best place to guage whether or not or not you’ve got heard of the model but.
Sherry Cardona’s F/All-Road is so removed from the manufacturing facility spec although it is fairly wild. The Fara body is constructed up with a SRAM Red groupset, however on the rear there is a Kogel Kolossus oversize derailleur cage swapped out for the usual one.
The wheels are 5-spoke, although regardless of a very detailed bike setup video the particular mannequin from Bike Ahead Composites is unknown. Mounted to them are a set of 32mm Continental GP5000 AS TR tyres, providing just a little extra sturdiness and puncture resistance than the usual GP5000.
The saddle is a custom-made Joyseat from Posedla, which sits atop what seems to be an Ergon CF Allroad Pro Carbon seatpost which presents extra flex than a ordinary one would. The further flex on the rear is mirrored up entrance with a Redshift suspension stem, seemingly permitting Cardona to remain within the Deda Jet aerobars longer over bumpy terrain.
Luggage is taken care of with a mixture of Apidura saddle and prime tube luggage, and a Fara body bag that mounts on to the body. Neatly there’s additionally a tiny superlight Apidura Musette clipped to the saddlebag for snack raids of assorted Lidl bakeries throughout the continent.
Laura Tovar’s Scott Addict Gravel – Cap 11
Another good {custom} paint scheme right here, with a mosaic of tiles on the decrease half of the body and a phenomenal, swirling sample on the highest half. The actually neat factor right here is that the tiles on the underside half of the bike are reflective, drastically rising nighttime visibility.
The Scott Addict Gravel frameset is paired with a SRAM GX Eagle drivetrain, with a Wolftooth oval chainring up entrance together with a Quarq spider energy meter.
Zipp 303s carbon wheels are paired with Pirelli Cinturato Velo tyres, highlighting that Tovar is maybe extra involved with puncture safety than with wattage financial savings – The Cinturato Velo is straight out of our record of one of the best street bike tyres, and is about as puncture resistant as you may get.
Apidura takes care of the baggage, with the rear seat pack given an additional little bit of safety because of a big zip tie. While these seat packs do an honest job of stopping your rear finish from getting sprayed, Tovar has additionally fitted an Ass Saver Win Wing mudguard on the again to remain drier with out including an excessive amount of weight.
Abdullah Zeinab’s titanium Curve Belgie Disc – Cap 21
Given that extremely racers are out in all situations a titanium bike makes plenty of sense. It’s sturdy, gentle, and completely immune to corrosion. Abdullah Zeinab’s Curve Belgie Disc is fairly easy as extremely setups go, devoid of something outlandish.
A SRAM Red drivetrain spins up Curve wheels and Continental GP5000 tyres. Reflective patches on the entrance of the fork legs support front-on visibility, and the baggage, what little Zeinab is carrying, is roofed by Apidura luggage.
A entrance dynamo hub powers entrance and back lights, with an extra battery-powered rear clipped to the chain keep for security.
Atop a Thomson seatpost is a short-nosed Specialized Power with Mirror saddle, which ought to swimsuit hours on finish within the Profile aero bars.
Tobias Fuchs’ Open U.P. – Cap 132
The Open U.P. was actually on the forefront of the one-bike-to-do-everything brigade when it was launched. Claiming to be speedy on the street, however succesful off-road too, it is no nice shock to see it being utilized by extremely racers, because it may conceivably be used for races on the street just like the TCR, and gravel races too.
Fuchs’ U.P. is certainly in a street guise right here although, with a Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, and Continental GP5000 AS TR tyres mounted to unbadged deep carbon rims.
The {custom} paint, if paint is the precise phrase, takes the type of paint marker phrases and doodles, and from what I can collect is the second iteration of the same paint scheme that Fuchs has had on this bike.
Augustin Muller’s {custom} Jolie Rouge – Cap 313
While I try to show impartiality I’m solely human and am sure to have favourites, and that is my choose of the bunch. Augustin Muller’s Jolie Rouge ticks all my bins: Custom metal, pink paint, matching luggage, the {custom} rear rack is a complementary color, and a cabled Campagnolo Super Record groupset. Nice!
For the metal nerds, the body is Columbus XCR, a stainless tubeset, which permits Muller to have a paint job that fades to uncooked metal on the rear dropouts. Just like with titanium bikes, it is a kind of unwritten rule that when you’ve got stainless it’s a must to have uncooked steel uncovered someplace.
The {custom} luggage are made by Pop Pin’s within the Vosges area of France, a model that’s effectively value a browse of should you love, like me, when luggage are made to be an integral a part of a motorcycle and its color scheme.
Josh Ibbett’s Mason Definition – Cap 18
Josh Ibbett is a mainstay of the extremely scene and is repeatedly seen on the very pointy finish of races. He’s been sponsored by British model Mason for years, so it is no shock to see him aboard the model’s aluminium Definition all-road bike.
Ibbett is utilizing a SRAM Force groupset and what seems to be a set of Hunt SUB50 Limitless carbon wheels, paired with Hutchinson Challenger tyres.
His baggage is all from Tailfin, with the saddlebag seemingly a prototype product from the Bristol model.
Like Cardona, he additionally makes use of Deda Jet aerobars and a Redshift suspension stem to permit him to remain within the aero bars longer. Curiously his bike solely has battery-powered lighting, with no dynamo that I can see, that means he is seemingly counting on energy banks for charging, saving a few watts of drag.
Sadly, Ibbett needed to scratch from the race in Italy after affected by persistent knee swelling.
Adrien Liechti’s Bombtrack Audax – Cap 7
Despite the sluggish unfold of digital shifting, some extremely racers nonetheless go for cables. It’s one much less factor to cost, and is less complicated to repair in a pinch if one thing goes very badly fallacious. Adrien Liechti’s aluminium Bombtrack Audax is fitted with an 11sp Shimano Ultegra cable actuated groupset, however with the crankset swapped out for some Cane Creek EE Wings titanium cranks mated to what appear like AbsoluteBlack oval chainrings.
A full suite of Apidura luggage takes care of the baggage, and the wheels are DTSwiss GRC1100 pared with Rene Herse Ron Jon Pass slicks, 35mm extensive with the Endurance casing to assist stave off punctures.
Like Ibbett, Liechti is utilizing Exposure battery-powered lights, and I can not make out a dynamo hub or wiring. The rear of his entrance gentle does have a cable coming into it, however this could possibly be Exposure’s distant management button system permitting Liechti to change modes with out having to fumble round on the rear of the sunshine.
Pawel Pulawski’s Kajac Custom – Cap 8
Last however not least we now have Pawel Pulawski’s Kajac Custom metal machine from Poland. Mounted to the body, breaking the Apidura monopoly, are a set of luggage from Yorkshire-based Restrap.
A Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset has had its chainrings swapped out for AbsoluteBlack ones, and Vision wheels have Pirelli PZero Race TLR tyres fitted to them. For added visibility, the entrance wheel has giant, reflective stickers added too.
Vision Trimax clip-on TT bars add consolation and aero, and a dynamo hub powers Exposure lights, with battery-powered backups simply in case.
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