Do aesthetics matter at the top level? New €16.7k Colnago Y4Rs splits opinion on looks, but claims big performance gains

Colnago as a brand tends to create enough of a buzz on its own that a new model leaking on WeightWeenies would be a standalone story in its own right, but given that in recent years the brand has become inexorably linked with one Tadej Pogačar, the interest in a brand new model from the storied Italian brand is immense. It’s not a new version of an existing model, such as the V4Rs replacing the V3Rs, but a brand new machine entirely. 

According to Colnago in documents regarding the development of the new machine, “the V4Rs is the perfect all-rounder, but for specific races, we need a focused aero bike”. Given the palmares of the current World Champion, the V4Rs has hardly been holding Pogačar back, despite what Tom Boonen thought before hastily retracting his opinion, and as races get ever-faster we are seeing riders opt for aero bikes as the default more often than not.