Prototype Campagnolo wheels and a weighted saddle highlight Colombian climber's machine
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Movistar's Nairo Quintana is eager to add a Tour de France title to his resume. This is the machine upon which he hopes to climb to victory in the mountains of this year's La Grand Boucle (Image credit: Nick Legan)
To meet the UCI minimum bike weight of 6.8 kilograms, mechanics glued lead weights to the underside of his saddle(Image credit: Nick Legan)
Quintana prefers a used saddle for the start of important races. His seat height is 69 centimeters(Image credit: Nick Legan)
Quintana and Valverde will have access to the only five pair of Bora's in the world with a prototype brake track treatment meant to improve wet weather braking(Image credit: Nick Legan)
An 11x29 cassette was installed on his wheels. A team mechanic mentioned that most of the team runs the wide ratio cassette in all conditions(Image credit: Nick Legan)
Like much of the pro peloton, Quintana relies on electronic shifting (Image credit: Nick Legan)
Despite his small stature Quintana uses 172.5mm crank arms(Image credit: Nick Legan)
German power meter manufacturer Power 2 Max is a Movistar sponsor. Quintana had standard 53/39 chainrings mounted for the start of the Tour (Image credit: Nick Legan)
A Garmin mount keeps vital information in plain sight (Image credit: Nick Legan)
Extra care was taken to keep electronic wires protected and out of the wind. Lizard Skin's grippy DSP bar tape has color-matched accents(Image credit: Nick Legan)
His Canyon stem is a negative 17-degree affair in a 12-centimeter length. Also note the latest version of Campagnolo's EPS wiring harness. The v3 incorporates wireless communication with the Italian firm's smartphone application (Image credit: Nick Legan)
Quintana's cockpit is very tidy. He rides a 42cm bar, the same as his entire team save for one who uses a 40cm. Surely this helps with inventory! (Image credit: Nick Legan)
Social media is here to stay. Follow Nairo at @NairoQuinCo (Image credit: Nick Legan)
Both the fore and aft of the Fizik Antares have weight added to them (Image credit: Nick Legan)
With one Grand Tour victory under his belt, Movistar's Nairo Quintana is hungry for more and some believe that the lithe climber may just be able to bag his second at this year's Tour de France. It'll take some doing to topple the heavily favoured Chris Froome, and to that end his sponsors – Campagnolo in particular – are pulling out all the stops.
On his size-XS Canyon Ultimate CF SLX, a pair of prototype Campagnolo Bora 50 wheels should give Quintana added braking confidence, especially in the rain. As we reported earlier, the new wheels feature a textured brake track to enhance brake pad grip.
According to a Movistar mechanic there are only five sets of Campagnolo Bora wheels with the new brake track in the world, two pairs of 50-millimeter wheels and three with 35-millimeter deep rims. All are in the care of Team Movistar, and only Quintana and Alejandro Valverde will be riding them at this year's Tour.
The rest of Quintana's bike is what we've come to expect for a Movistar team machine. Quintana uses a German Power 2 Max power meter, Canyon bar, stem and seatpost, a Super Record EPS groupset, Look pedals and Continental tires. (See photo captions for more details).
Another interesting component on his bike is the Fizik Antares saddle. Quintana prefers to start a race as important as the Tour on a used saddle. So mechanics carefully measured his position and moved his saddle and seat post assembly over to the new bike they built for the Grand Depart. The underside of the saddles has several lead weights glued to it to bring his bike weight up to the required 6.8 kilograms.
It's a strange place to add weight, with most preferring to do so as low as possible. Gluing it the underside of the shell may also stiffen the saddle, but as Quintana had previously ridden the seat he must be accustomed to it. In any case, when the Tour reaches the inclines of the Pyrenees, Mont Ventoux and the Alps, we're sure to see the Movistar team leader attacking con gusto.
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