Tadej Pogačar sprinted to a commanding victory on stage 3 of the UAE Tour on Wednesday. The World Champion, resplendent in his white rainbow skinsuit, beat Oscar Onley and Felix Gall to the road.
We already noticed Pogačar utilizing what seems to be to be a brand new Enve wheel in yesterday’s particular person time trial, and have noticed a number of extra curious particulars on the Slovenian’s putting new Colnago Y1Rs aero bike immediately.
First up are the Enve SES 6.7 wheels, they’ve silver hubs and spokes which can be visibly totally different to those utilized by his teammates and look to be the identical because the entrance wheel setup he utilized in yesterday’s time trial. This could possibly be a brand new wheelset being developed by Enve, or at the least a take a look at for a brand new wheel hub and spoke configuration.
UAE Emirates-XRG has an unique partnership with Shimano, however riders have been nonetheless seen utilizing Carbon-Ti carbon fibre chainrings, like final yr. Pogačar was utilizing some customised ones that may be seen beneath.
Finally, we noticed some insulated bottles from staff accomplice Elite, which we assume to assist hold drinks colder for longer underneath the recent UAE solar and assist handle Pogačar’s core temperature.
Pogačar’s Enve spokes and hubs at this race are silver, clearly standing out from his teammates’. Enve SES wheels are usually specced with Sapim CX Ray spokes, that are chrome steel, the wheels additionally characteristic inner spoke nipples which give a small aero saving.
We do not know whether or not these new spokes are totally different in a roundabout way or are merely barely lighter than the common black ones. This was the case with the silver hubs of the Roval Rapide CLX II Team wheels that launched final yr.
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Perhaps they’ve a extra aero profile or the staff is even experimenting with totally different spoke tensions for the world champion. It appears odd to rely the grams on an aero bike just like the Colnago Y1Rs, however on the prime stage, each small element issues. We suspect by the tip of the season, we may have our solutions.
This is an attention-grabbing one, we realized over winter that UAE Emirates-XRG and Shimano had introduced a partnership for the following 4 years whereby the Japanese producer would provide the staff with groupsets and pedals. We assumed this is able to imply fewer aftermarket components for the staff. Pogačar himself has used Carbon-Ti chainrings and AbsoluteBlack brake pads usually.
Team riders are nonetheless utilizing Carbon-Ti chainrings although and Pogačar’s Dura-Ace chainset was even fitted with chainrings that characteristic his customized TP emblem and ‘UAE Emirates’ wordmark, so maybe an understanding or settlement has been reached with Shimano to permit some flexibility right here.