Domenico Pozzovivo's (Ag2r-La Mondiale) Focus Izalco Max will supposedly weigh exactly 6.8kg when the Giro d'Italia hits the high mountains(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Team mechanics seat weights inside the seatposts as needed to bring bikes up to the minimum 6.8kg weight(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
While most riders seem to prefer their bars turned slightly upward, Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) likes it the other way(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
omenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) uses an all-aluminium cockpit by fi'zi:k(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The Campagnolo Super Record brake callipers are fitted with Campagnolo carbon-specific pads(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The wet-weather variant of Schwalbe's One tubular tyre is wrapped around Fulcrum's Racing Speed XLR 35 carbon wheel(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The tiny carbon dropouts are hollow in between the seat stays and chain stays, effectively creating a continuous tubular structure(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The Focus Izalco Max may be super light but it also looks like it's rather comfortable(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Pro bike Domenico Pozzovivo s Focus Izalco Max Domenico Pozzovivo's (Ag2r-La Mondiale) Focus Izalco Max will supposedly weigh exactly 6.8kg when the Giro d'Italia hits the high mountains James Huang/Future Publishing Pro bike Domenico Pozzovivo s Focus Izalco Max Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) is a former stage winner at the Giro d'Italia - and he'll be looking for at least that again this time around James Huang/Future Publishing Pro bike Domenico Pozzovivo s Focus Izalco Max Focus officially launched its new Izalco Max just a few months ago, passing over aerodynamic shaping in favour of a more traditional design that prioritises stiffness and weight(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) is a former stage winner at the Giro d'Italia - and he'll be looking for at least that again this time around(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
ampagnolo's Super Record EPS group handles the gear changes(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Elite Cannibal bottle cages apparently hold tightly, given that we saw more than a few bikes equipped with them during the cobbled Belgian classics earlier this spring(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Look's KéO Blade 2 Ti pedals(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The seat tube is nominally round from end to end and flares little down at the bottom bracket. A rubber ring keeps water from running down the seatpost into the frame(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Bucking the trend, Focus has designed the Izalco Max to use either electronic or mechanical transmissions exclusively(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The Campagnolo Super Record EPS battery and brain are installed inside the frame. The charge port is situated on the underside of the down tube(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Tidy wire routing by the Ag2r-La Mondiale team mechanics(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Interestingly, Domenico Pozzovivo's (Ag2r-La Mondiale) cockpit is equipped with mounts for both an SRM and Garmin computer(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Chain stays are relatively small compared to many other modern frame designs(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The fi'zi:k Arione saddle is tilted notably upward(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Italian climber Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) will be happy to have left the wet and slippery roads of Ireland behind him in favour of the more familiar tarmac of his home country. The slightly built, pure climber will look forward even more to the big mountains of the Giro d'Italia, especially with such a lightweight rig beneath him as this Focus Izalco Max.
Pozzovivo's Izalco Max pushes aside any consideration of aerodynamic performance, instead concentrating on the traditional metrics of stiffness and weight. The tube shapes are nominally round throughout and just when it seemed like tube diameters were getting progressively bigger, Focus has instead downsized the ones on the Izalco. According to the German company, this decreases the weight (less surface area equates to less material) while high-stiffness fibres allow for thinner walls, too.
Focus officially launched its new Izalco Max just a few months ago, passing over aerodynamic shaping in favour of a more traditional design that prioritizes stiffness and weight
The head tube is still tapered but with a modest 1 1/8-to-1 1/4in steerer housed inside, and the chain stays are shorter in height relative to the older Izalco Team but spaced further apart. In between is a PressFit 30 bottom bracket shell while hollow carbon dropouts anchor the opposite ends.
The Campagnolo Super Record EPS battery and brain are installed inside the frame. The charge port is situated on the underside of the down tube
At the bike's launch early this year, a bare 54cm frame weighed just 720g on our scale and the matching fork was only 295g. Pozzovivo is using the smallest frame size available, though, so his is most likely well below 700g – a truly staggering figure.
Such low weight would normally be fantastic for heading uphill but with the UCI's 6.8kg minimum weight limit, it actually creates a little more work for the mechanics.
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The Focus Izalco Max may be super light but it also looks like it's rather comfortable
Pozzovivo's frameset is dressed with a comparatively standard build kit that features a Campagnolo Super Record EPS electronic group, Fulcrum Racing Speed XLR 35 carbon tubular wheels, an SRM power meter crank, a fi'zi:k Cyrano aluminium cockpit and seatpost, a matching fi'zi:k Arione saddle, and Look KéO Blade 2 Ti pedals.
While most riders seem to prefer their bars turned slightly upward, Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) likes it the other way
As shown, we recorded a total bike weight of 7.1kg. Team mechanics told us, however, that the bike is well under the limit when Fulcrum's shallowest Racing Light wheels are installed (which doesn't quite add up by our calculations but so be it). To rectify this, they insert weights into the bottom of the seatpost as needed (up to 350g in some cases), and then seal them in with expanding foam.
Team mechanics seat weights inside the seatposts as needed to bring bikes up to the minimum 6.8kg weight
Once the Giro hits the real mountains, you can be sure that Pozzovivo's Focus will weigh exactly 6.8kg – and not a single gram more. There's a pink jersey on the line, after all.
