Ineos Grenadiers will be kicking off their Tour de France campaign on brand new Pinarello Bolide F time-trial bikes. Well, four of them will.
Geraint Thomas, Dani Martínez and Filippo Ganna will be taking to the 2022 prologue in Copenhagen on the new machine, which made a winning debut at the Critérium du Dauphiné at the beginning of June thanks to Ganna's efforts.
Adam Yates will also be wanging it round the Danish capital in the hopes of getting his GC campaign off to a good start – and you’ll notice besides Ganna it will only be ridden by the three contenders to lead the team – and Cyclist had the chance to spend some time with the bike of one of Bury’s two greatest exports.
Interesting features to note are the prototype Princeton Carbonworks wheels, AeroCoach chainring and new Continental GP5000 TT tyres, while quirks include the satellite shifters attached to the standard Di2 TT shifters, an aero axle cover and a really nice use of spare inner tube on the rear derailleur hanger.
Adam Yates’s Pinarello Bolide F spec
| Frameset | Pinarello Bolide F |
| Levers | Shimano Dura-Ace R9270 TT levers with satellite shifters fixed to inside of bars |
| Brakes | Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 |
| Rear derailleur | Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 |
| Front derailleur | Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 |
| Crankset | AeroCoach; 60/46 |
| Cassette | Shimano Dura-Ace R9200; 11-30 |
| Chain | Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 |
| Wheels | Princeton Carbonworks |
| Tyres | Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TdF; 28mm rear, 25mm front |
| Bar and extensions | Most |
| Stem | Most |
| Seatpost | Most |
| Saddle | Fizik Tritone |
| Pedals | Shimano Dura-Ace |
| Accessories | Elite Crono TT bottle cage, Garmin mount between extensions |
| Measurements | |
| Rider height | 173cm |
| Rider weight (approx) | 58kg |
If you’ve kept up to speed with the release of Pinarello’s new Dogma F and Grevil F bikes, you’ll recognise the asymmetrical aerodynamic tube shapes.
Dan Bigham – who works for Ineos – was joking with fellow TTist Alex Dowsett at the British National Championships about successfully using Continental GP5000s for a time-trial, and the aero-expert may have been hinting at these seemingly brand new ‘Grand Prix 5000 TT TdF’ tyres.
‘Experimental prototype’ is what it says on Princeton’s funky tri-spoke wheels, we’re presuming the technical term for these is ‘fast’.
The new setup features narrower bars than the previous Bolide, so it might not be at its best in a technical prologue but in the later 40km time-trial on Stage 20 it could offer meaningful gains.
‘Do you want Simon’s bike?’ said Ineos team staff.
One for the chain catcher fans.
Inner tubes are officially aero.
The computer mount has a twist release on its underside, because there isn’t room between the extensions to turn the head unit.
No clues on how many watts this saves at 50kmh.
Ask not what bike engineering can do for aerospace...
Asymmetrical, behave.
Ineos riders don’t want to use synchro shift when they’re racing, so the satellite shifters control the front derailleur.
You’re barred.
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Photos: Matthew Loveridge