Gallery: Remco Evenepoel’s Vuelta-winning red S-Works Tarmac SL7

After taking the red jersey on stage 6 of this year’s Vuelta a España, Belgian wunderkind and now Grand Tour winner, Remco Evenepoel, opted for his stock black team bike until the final stage of the race. Perhaps an effort not to jinx the prospect of becoming the first Belgian to win a three-week stage race since Freddy Maertens in 1978, or maybe just an effort not to add unnecessary weight over the famously savage Vuelta parcours? 

Whatever the reason, heading into the final stage with a lead of over two minutes over Movistar’s Enric Mas meant the lead was all but nailed on for the Belgian team, and with it, the customary colour-matched grand tour winners bike, adorned with a smattering of red accessories was rolled out. 

Besides the red detailing, the build is an almost entirely stock Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7. The top-tier frameset has been painted in a classy red fade rather than a block colour to give a sense of motion, and complimented by a red S-Works Power Mirror saddle and bars wrapped in Supacaz Super Sticky Kush Fade tape; a more subtle option than the usual all red wrap with red hoods (or yellow/pink depending on the Grand Tour in question). Strangely though the front of the headtube, along with the front of the fork crown, has been left as the team issue black, with a very abrupt fade to the red. Short on red paint at the shop perhaps?

What isn’t so subtle are the wheels. The usually white-on-black look of the Roval Rapide CLX wheelset has been (hastily) jazzed up with block red logos. Out of context, it’s a little bit Green Day circa 2004, but in context, they work well, even if the white logos still peek out from behind. The heat shrink used to reduce the drag from the race chip on the fork is also red, though the team has been using this throughout. 

While it is largely a stock build in terms of componentry, it’s still a bona fide superbike, with a full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 12sp groupset taking care of the shifting and traction coming from S-Works Turbo Rapidair tyres front and rear. Power transfer is also conducted via Dura-Ace pedals and measured by the inbuilt dual-sided crank-based power meter.