A subtle custom paintjob for the reigning Tour de France champion
(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Our esteemed Tech Editor, Josh Croxton, has been touring the various team hotels, busses, and mechanic's trucks in Bilbao ahead of the start of the Tour de France. The latest in a series of pro bike galleries, which has already brought you the Mads Pederson's extremely bling Trek Madone and an as-yet-unreleased Factor O2 VAM, is an understated but clearly race-honed custom Cervelo S5 for reigning Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard of Team Jumbo-Visma.
Vingegaard himself claims he's under less pressure to win the Tour, not more this year, and perhaps the slightly ethereal "Ride Your Dreams" motif is scrawled on the top tube to encourage him to relax in high-stress moments, such as that which occurred on the cobbled stage 15 last year.
On the face of it, the Cervelo S5 is more or less as we've seen him riding in the classic warm-up races of the year, but the standard black paint has been bespeckled by airbrushed stars vaguely reminiscent of the paintwork churned out of the Colnago factory many moons ago.
Interestingly, despite spotting Vingegaard using a 1x setup at the Critérium du Dauphiné this year, his race bike for the Tour is at least beginning with a double chainset. Given the success Primoz Roglic enjoyed in the final time trial of the Giro d'Italia on a bike with a 1x gravel groupset, it may be something we see again if the circumstances are apt.
This is just one example of Jonas Vingegaard's bikes, which we are keeping an archive of as he continues to dominate at the highest level.
From the front, the S5 is clearly designed with aerodynamics in mind. The twin stem is something we've all got used to now, but it's still unusual in the context of the best road bikes on the market (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
As ever, the wheels will be stage-specific, but given the rolling nature of the opening few days a deeper set of wheels are fitted than will likely be used in the mountains (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The rear wheel meshes with the frame about as seamlessly as is possible thanks to a generous cutout in the seat post (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The currently available Corsa Speed tyres from Vittoria are primarily tubular tyres, and while they are available in a tubeless-ready format they only come in 23c or 25c. This is definitely a tubeless tyre (check the valve) but is a 28c unit, so it's either a new width of the currently available model or a new version of the tyre completely. Given the new Corsa Pro had an identical tread to the outgoing model it may well be the latter. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
As per basically all of the best aero road bikes, the seat post is held in place with a wedge, rather than a classic clamp, thanks to the deep profile of the post itself. Oddly though there's no tape to cover the bolt; an aero trick missed, perhaps? (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Atop the deep seat post sits a Vento Argo OO saddle from Fizik, and atop that sits a Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Unlike the seat clamp, the bar-stem bolts are taped up to smooth the airflow. While a slammed position is great, Vingegaard uses a 5mm spacer to get his optimum fit (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
When all the blood in your body is in your legs and not your brain it's easy to forget where you are, so a map of France on the top tube should help the defending champion avoid any confusion (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
As custom paint jobs go this is a very subtle nod. We don't know the deeper meaning behind it (besides Vingegaard clearly being a big star?), but it's the opposite end of the spectrum to Mads Pederson's bike (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
It's giving 'Live Laugh Love', but if that's what it takes to lift up your star rider when he needs a boost then that's no bad thing (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The gouge on the rim makes us suspect these new tyres may be a little tricky to fit (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The night sky motif does extend to the yellow, hinged fork too, though it's a little harder to spot due to the lower contrast (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Vingegaard's mount for his cycling computer looks to be injection moulded, rather than 3D printed (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
However it's constructed, it's clearly a minimal unit designed to keep the overall weight down (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Its length is clearly calculated so that his Garmin sits as close as possible to the bars, so as to keep the airflow clean (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The black-on-black Sharpie notation is most likely the date the tyres were last filled with sealant. A 63mm deep rim is about as deep as we see outside of time trials too (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Vingegaard uses 172.5mm SRAM Red cranks (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Here's a better look at how close the rear wheel meshes with the frame; barely enough room for a cigarette paper (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
A 52mm deep rim at the front, shallower than the rear as it's more susceptible to being thrown offline by a strong gust of wind (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The name stickers on the bikes aren't just for show, they're key for the mechanics and sports directors to make sure the setups are correct for each rider, and which bike to grab off the car roof in the event of a mid-stage bike swap (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Aero Wahoo Speedplay pedals are a real performance detail. The underside of the pedal is dimpled like a golf ball to smooth airflow under the shoe (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
A 52/39 chain set is more or less standard, or at least the minimum size for a World Tour professional (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Will joined the Cyclingnews team as a reviews writer in 2022, having previously written for Cyclist, BikeRadar and Advntr. He’s tried his hand at most cycling disciplines, from the standard mix of road, gravel, and mountain bike, to the more unusual like bike polo and tracklocross. He’s made his own bike frames, covered tech news from the biggest races on the planet, and published countless premium galleries thanks to his excellent photographic eye. Also, given he doesn’t ever ride indoors he’s become a real expert on foul-weather riding gear. His collection of bikes is a real smorgasbord, with everything from vintage-style steel tourers through to superlight flat bar hill climb machines.
