Tadej Pogačar has been ahead of the curve in many modern cycling trends. He was an early adopter of short cranks and, likewise, his use of wider tyres on the road. But one area where he has been left behind in recent years has been in his use of a different bike on the cobbles to his standard race machine.
Last year, while Mathieu van der Poel was aboard a Canyon Aeroad, Pogačar ditched his new Colnago Y1Rs for the older V4Rs. Wout van Aert, despite doing recon aboard the more aero Cervélo S5, opted for the more endurance-oriented Soloist along with the rest of his team, but most other teams were aboard their standard aero machines.
This year, confirmed by his mechanic in an interview where it was also revealed that the Slovenian superstar won Milan-San Remo on a cracked frame, he will race aboard Colnago’s aero machine, and an Instagram post from the man himself reveals the setup is pushing the limits of what it can handle to the very extreme.
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The radical Y1Rs first appeared at the tail end of 2024, with Pogačar using it for early-season races in 2025 before he mysteriously swapped back to the V4Rs for the cobbled and Ardennes classics.
Speculation online was rife as to whether he preferred the handling of the V4Rs that he was more used to, as the geometry of the Y1Rs was something of a departure from the Colnago road bikes he’d have ridden his whole professional career, or whether after initial testing in those early races the aero bike went back to Colnago for some tweaks before its return for the pre-Tour race block and the Tour de France itself.
Whatever the reason, since its return, it hasn’t been swapped out again despite Colnago updating the V4Rs to the V5Rs, and the use of it to ride to victory at Strade Bianche shows it’s at least usable on rougher roads.
Pogacar’s mechanic confirmed that this year he will use his aero bike for the cobbles:
“Before the Tour of Flanders, we will do another tour of Roubaix. There, we have been collecting data that the sports department needs to calculate what equipment and settings are optimal.”
According to our contact at Colnago, this will be his fourth recon of the year, evidencing not only his, but his team’s commitment to winning the race after finishing 2nd on debut last year.
“Tadej has already decided to compete with…
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