A brand new, as-yet-unreleased Bianchi has been spotted at La Vuelta at the Arkéa-Samsic bus and beneath the young French climber Kévin Vauquelin.
As the peloton powered toward the first rest day of La Vuelta a España on the race’s third summit finish, a source close to Cyclingnews was able to spot an all-new, seemingly lightweight Bianchi road bike at the Arkéa-Samsic camp.
Hidden somewhat in plain sight among the brand’s aero Oltre RC bikes, the new bike follows a similar design philosophy, with its upward-kinked top tube and aero detailing at the fork and down tube, but on close inspection, it’s evident that the new model is a lighter-weight bike. Despite featuring the same sculpted finishes, the tubes are clearly thinner and shallower, especially toward the rear of the bike.
Cyclingnews can also confirm the bike was used, but went unnoticed, by Vauquelin during the stage 6 summit finish to Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre.
New Bianchi bike: the details
There are no giveaways as to the bike’s name on the bike itself, and we’ve looked at the UCI’s list of approved frames and forks for clues, but there’s nothing new in the Bianchi list there either. With that said, given Bianchi’s current lightweight bike is known as the Specialissima, and given the time since that bike was last updated, we’re pretty confident we’re looking at the 2024 Specialissima.
The only wordmarks on the frame are on the down tube, top tube and chainstay. The top tube has the term ‘Special Operations’ written, which suggests this is something of a working prototype, similar to Specialized’s Project Black. The words ‘Reparto Corse’ are written on the drive-side chainstay, as well as the non-drive-side face of the down tube. This translates to ‘racing department’ and is a term commonly used by Bianchi. A large Bianchi logo sits on the drive-side face of the down tube, and an add-on sticker for Vauquelin’s name is placed on the seat tube cluster.
We’ve no confirmation of the exact weight of this model, so besides knowing that it must sit above the UCI limit of 6.8kg, we have to guess the rest. The tube shapes, lack of paint, and the fact that it’s being piloted by a climber all point to this being a lightweight bike, but the front of the bike has clearly kept an eye on aerodynamics, so we’d presume this is more of an…
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