French sprinter stays in the fight with Basque brand
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Nacer Bouhanni and his Cofidis teammates are racing the new Orbea Orca Aero at the 2017 Tour de France(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
The Orca Aero comes with Vision's integrated Vision Metron 5d bar/stem, but Bouhanni prefers this massive Metron Aero stem and a traditional bar(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
You can't tape up bars any further than that. The boxing glove, 'fight' and NB initials form Bouhanni's personal logo(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
The rear-most button on the new Di2 levers are elongated enough that, on a compact bar, you can hit them with a slightly extended knuckle to shift while sprinting(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
The Orca Aero has the integrated Di2 junction box we are seeing more and more (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
You know you're a French team leader when you don't even have a second cage on your bike. Note the plug in the upper boss(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Cofidis and Astana are both running a mix of FSA and Shimano components(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Prologo's Nago Evo features a few dozen tiny soft knobs (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Cofidis is the one team in the Tour on Kenda-branded tubulars. They are made by Veloflex(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Cofidis sprinter Nacer Bouhanni is racing on a brand new Orbea Orca Aero, the first aero road machine from the Basque brand, at the Tour de France.
The Orca Aero, as the name implies, is an aerodynamically faster version of the longstanding Orca race bike, with elongated profiles on the down tube and seatpost, and a sculpted seat tube reminiscent of a Cervélo S5 or a Canyon Aeroad.
The French sprinter boxed growing up and still trains in the ring in the off season. 'Fight' is part of both his personal logo and a marketing campaign of his bike sponsor Orbea ("Ride. Fight. Win."). Sometimes his background comes back to bite him, however, and Bouhanni was fined on Tuesday for throwing a punch in the closing kilometers of stage 10.
Cofidis is racing on a mix of FSA and Shimano components, with wheels and cockpit pieces from FSA sister-brand Vision.
But perhaps the most striking part of his bike is the one that isn't there; like Direct Energie's Thomas Voeckler, Bouhanni is racing with only a single bottle cage.
Click through the gallery above for a closer look at Bouhanni's Orbea Orca Aero, and and be sure to visit Cyclingnews.com for complete coverage of the 2017 Tour de France.
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You can't tape up bars any further than that. The boxing glove, 'fight' and NB initials form Bouhanni's personal logo
