Mark Cavendish’s Wilier Filante: Is this bike going to make history?

Mark Cavendish is the greatest sprinter of all time, that’s not really up for debate. He’s won more sprint stages at the Tour de France than anyone else in history, and is, at the time of writing, joint record holder for the most stage wins overall. Our Tech Editor, Josh, managed to grab his custom Wilier Filante SLR during the opening week of the race to get the low down on what could be a history making machine. If he takes one more stage win he will become the outright record holder for stage wins, a record that may take decades to fall despite Tadej Pogacar joking about coming for the record.

While the rest of his Astana Qazaqstan teammates ride about the easily identifiable ice-blue Wilier bikes, Cavendish has been given a slightly less visible, but much more unique Filante SLR to ride what will be his final Tour de France. If you’re into pro bikes (of course you are, or you wouldn’t be here…), then we’ve also shot a slew of others from the opening stages, including the ultra bling Trek Madone of Mads Pederson, Mathieu van der Poel’s Canyon Aeroad, Ben O’Connor’s prototype Red Bull BMC, and (current) yellow jersey holder Jonas Vingegaard’s Cervelo. For now, though, let’s dig into Cav’s bike.