Remco Evenepoel roared to victory yesterday to take a solo win in the elite men’s world road race championship. He becomes the first Belgium Elite Men’s World Champion since Philippe Gilbert won the title in 2012 at Valkenburg. Fresh from his recent victory at the Vuelta a España, Evenepoel claimed his world’s victory aboard his Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7. The custom-painted red bike from La Vuelta was gone though and Evenepoel raced to victory on a purposeful matte black frame. We take a closer look at the 2022 world champion’s race-winning machine.
Remco was aboard his customary Tarmac SL7 frame in a size 52, but this time in a pro-team-only paint finish consisting of a stealthy matte black frame with white graphics. The bike will have needed to be above the UCI minimum weight limit of 6.8kg but this paint version may well be slightly lighter than a lustrous, complex paint job that can often add a few grams.
The standout equipment choice and main talking point regarding the bike was Evenepoel’s choice of wheels and tyres. Roval Alpinist CLX II wheels were fitted that use a 33mm deep, hooked rim and weigh around 1265g per set. The hubs are Roval’s own but use DT Swiss star ratchet EXP 180 internals. The wheelset was fitted with tubeless Specialized S-Works Turbo RapidAir tyres in a 26mm width. Interestingly, the brand new Turbo RapidAir 2BR tyres – launched just a week before Worlds – were not used for the race.
Remco himself – or the Belgium team mechanics – may have decided to stick with the tried and tested RapidAir rubber instead of the recently released, supposedly one-watt-faster RapidAir 2BR tyres, or perhaps the new tyres just weren’t available for them to use in time for the race. The shallower depth wheels were clearly chosen to aid acceleration and handling on the circuit’s climbs which featured some steep gradients and to help navigate the twists and turns of the roads through the city suburbs. It’s a choice that clearly paid off, resulting in a spectacular win.
Wheel and tyre choices aside, Evenepoel’s bike is specced with the best but is an almost-factory-spec no-nonsense affair. A Shimano Dura-ace Di2 R9250 groupset with a dual-sided power meter chainset takes care of shifting and braking. Gear ratios were made up of 54/40T chainrings and an 11-34 cassette at the rear. A CeramicSpeed sticker can be seen on the chainstay so it’s probably fair to assume the bottom bracket and perhaps even hub and…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…