Hanson picked aerodynamics over weight for the Santos Festival of Cycling
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To our eyes, the Trek-Segafredo women's bikes have one of the best paint jobs in the peloton(Image credit: Kevin Anderson)
Trek's nifty 'two-piece-that-looks-like-one-piece' cockpit achieves just about everything offered by a one piece bar and stem, but makes life easy for the mechanics(Image credit: Kevin Anderson)
Hanson is running SRAM's one piece 48/35t chainrings, including the integrated power meter(Image credit: Kevin Anderson)
Talk about slammed, Hanson's saddle is pushed about as far back as it can go(Image credit: Kevin Anderson)
For Willunga, Hanson chose to run the Aeolus RSL 37 wheels(Image credit: Kevin Anderson)
Hanson isn't on the latest Madone made from OCLV 800 carbon(Image credit: Kevin Anderson)
Lauretta Hansen's third season with Trek Segafredo got off to a unique start in 2021. Instead of riding in Adelaide with last year's Tour Down Under champ Ruth Winder, the Aussie worked as a domestique for TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank's Sarah Gigante, who would go on to win the general classification with the Team Garmin Australia national team.
The Aussie has had a rough introduction to the World Tour following a concussion at the 2019 Tour of Norway, which took her out for the remainder of the season, and then, of course, the truncated 2020 season; Hanson will most definitely be keen to pin on a number in 2021.
With many of the Trek men's and women's riders opting for the lightweight yet aero Emonda, Hanson still reached for the brand's Madone to rip around the roads surrounding Adelaide. We borrowed Hanson's bike following the third stage, which saw the women's peloton ascending the infamous Willunga hill for the first time, which is why there are low profile Aeolus RSL 37 wheels bolted between the stays. It's an interesting combination, but given only the last 3.5km of the stage are actual climbing, it does make sense to prioritise aerodynamics over grams.
Hanson used the older Madone, rather than the higher-specced model with OCLV 800 carbon (Image credit: Kevin Anderson)
Having said that, we may also be completely overthinking the equipment choice here, because Hanson is the only Trek-Segafredo rider to race the Santos Festival of Cycling. The Madone may well have been the only bike she had available in Australia (it's also not the latest version made of OCLV 800 carbon), without the team apparatus and travelling service course in the country for the race.
Nonetheless, her bike was still shod with a full SRAM Red eTap AXS drivetrain. At the front, the South Australian was spinning the brand's 48/35t one-piece chainrings complete with the integrated Quarq D-Zero power meter and matched with a 10-33t cassette at the back.
Hanson's cockpit also comes from Trek, with the integrated two-piece VR-FC OCLV carbon bar and stem, which keeps the brake hose hidden from the wind but sidesteps some of the adjustability headaches that come along with one-piece integrated systems.
(Image credit: Kevin Anderson)
Placed atop the IsoSpeed decoupled aero seat mast is a Bontrager Aeolus saddle slammed all the way back on its carbon rails. The final piece of the puzzle are, of course, the 25mm Pirelli PZero Velo tubular tyres.
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Based on the Gold Coast of Australia, Colin has written tech content for cycling publication for a decade. With hundreds of buyer's guides, reviews and how-tos published in Bike Radar, Cyclingnews, Bike Perfect and Cycling Weekly, as well as in numerous publications dedicated to his other passion, skiing.
Colin was a key contributor to Cyclingnews between 2019 and 2021, during which time he helped build the site's tech coverage from the ground up. Nowadays he works full-time as the news and content editor of Flow MTB magazine.
