Heavily modified road bikes take over Tour Down Under prologue

Pello Bilbao riding an aero-modified road bike at the Tour Down Under prologue
Pello Bilbao riding an aero-modified road bike at the Tour Down Under prologue (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

The Tour Down Under got underway today with a prologue, marking the start of the 2023 WorldTour season.

However, far from a typical prologue, the Adelaide-based 5.5km sprint was awash with highly-modified road bikes to take advantage of the race's unique ban on time trial bikes. 

Josh Croxton
Associate Editor (Tech)

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.