A new bike means a return to rim brakes as the Briton moves to his home team
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Adam Yates' Pinarello Dogma F12 X-Light basks in the sunshine ahead of the UAE Tour(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
While the frame is different, familiarity comes courtesy of Shimano's Dura-Ace groupset(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Dura-Ace is still an 11-speed group, but rumours suggest 12 is coming(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
A 54-tooth chainring for the flat first stage in the crosswinds - a day on which Yates was the only Ineos man to make the front echelon(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The new 'Grenadiers' team name sticks for 2021(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The one-piece cockpit comes courtesy of MOST(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
At the front of the clean-looking cockpit, Yates will house a Garmin Edge computer(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Shimano satellie Di2 shifters are positioned in the 'trigger' position on the underside of the drops(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Rim brakes aren't dead, but with Ineos as the only team left using them, they're certainly a rarity in today's peloton(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The stem couldn't get much more slammed than this(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The recent UAE Tour marked the beginning of a new era for Adam Yates. It was his Ineos Grenadiers debut after joining his home team from the Mitchelton-Scott team that he and twin brother, Simon, had spent their entire careers at since turning pro in 2014.
Throughout his entire professional career, Yates has been aboard Scott Bikes, so his move to Ineos will see the Briton familiarising himself with an all-new brand of bike. It clearly didn't take him long. Despite a heavy crash on the final stage, it was an almost-perfect debut in which he finished 2nd on GC.
Ineos Grenadiers' bike of choice for the 2021 season is the Dogma F12 from Pinarello, and for his week in the Middle East, Yates was aboard the top shelf X-Light model. As its name suggests, the X-Light takes advantage of Pinarello's best carbon fibre technologies to shave weight from the frame.
While the frame itself is new to the Briton, the Dura-Ace Di2 groupset will at least offer some sense of familiarity. Both Mitchelton Scott (known this year as Team BikeExchange), and Ineos are sponsored by the Japanese components manufacturer. However, while the shifting performance will be the same, the brakes differ considerably. Yates has spent the past two seasons using the disc version of the Dura-Ace groupset, while Ineos Grenadiers remain the only team still using rim brakes in the pro peloton this year.
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Another sponsor shared by the two teams is Garmin, which supply the teams with its range of Edge computers. While it's not pictured here, Yates looks to have opted for the Edge 530..
Most notable about Yates' cockpit is the addition of the Shimano Di2 satellite shifters, positioned on the underside of the drops to adopt the 'gun trigger' shifter position - likely benefitting Yates' attacking out-of-the-saddle climbing style. For now, the groupset is the 11-speed model, although rumours are rife to suggest that new Dura-Ace is coming and that it will be 12-speed - perhaps even wireless.
Yates was using wheels from the same Dura-Ace series as his groupset, even though Ineos regularly opt to use Lightweight Meilenstein wheels when the road points up, and despite prototype Shimano wheels being spotted during the 2020 Tour de France. The wheels are wrapped in the ever-popular 25mm Continental Pro Ltd tubular tyres.
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The cockpit comes courtesy of Pinarello's component subsidiary, MOST, with a one-piece bar and stem. Perched atop the proprietary Pinarello seatpost is the Arione carbon saddle from fellow Italians Fizik, and completing the Italian theme is a duo of Leggero Carbon bottle cages from Elite.
While he seemed to walk away from his crash with little more than a cut face, Yates has plenty of time to recover. His main 2021 event will be leading the Ineos Grenadiers line at La Vuelta in August. However, after a curtailed 2020 season in which Yates only finished three races and a spring in which more than 20 race days have been lost already, the way in which the 2021 season will play out is anything but certain.
Josh is Associate Editor of Cyclingnews – leading our content on the best bikes, kit and the latest breaking tech stories from the pro peloton. He has been with us since the summer of 2019 and throughout that time he's covered everything from buyer's guides and deals to the latest tech news and reviews.
On the bike, Josh has been riding and racing for over 15 years. He started out racing cross country in his teens back when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s, racing at a local and national level for Somerset-based Team Tor 2000. These days he rides indoors for convenience and fitness, and outdoors for fun on road, gravel, 'cross and cross-country bikes, the latter usually with his two dogs in tow.
