Bauke Mollema's unlabelled Trek at the Dauphiné(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Looks like Yaroslav Popovych might have also been riding the new frame (number 115 in rear)(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Gone are the chainstay mounted brake calipers of previous editions. Mollema's machine has the brake tucked nicely between the seat stays.(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
A wide integrated seatpost shields the race number from the wind.(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
The tubing on Mollema's machine more resembles the Speed Concept than earlier Madones(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
A port in the down tube for electronic groups.(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
The integrated fork and beefy down tube looks less feathery than most lightweight climbing bikes, but aerodynamics are important(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
The integrated seatpost of Mollema's unlabeled Trek(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
The front brake is tucked into the fork and head tube.(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
For comparison, this is the front brake of the 2015 Madone(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
From the front, the aerodynamic profile of Mollema's unlabeled Trek is very sleek(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
The head tube of Bauke Mollema's Trek at the Dauphiné(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
The one-piece, aero-shaped carbon bar and stem on Mollema's Trek(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
The one-piece, aero-shaped carbon bar and stem on Mollema's Trek(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
The head tube from the side(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
Internal brake cables make for a sleek tail end of Mollema's Trek(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
From the back, Mollema's Trek's aerodynamic advantage is apparent(Image credit: Daniel Benson)
At last weeks' Critérium du Dauphiné, Trek Factory Racing's Bauke Mollema (and, it seems from our photos, Yarloslav Popovych) raced a novel Trek frameset which just could be the first look the world has had at a 2016 Trek Madone, and perhaps a new direction for the American brand.
Although Trek declined to comment on what Mollema was riding, it was a carbon fiber frameset obviously built to be aerodynamic. From the integrated fork with the brakes firmly embedded into the profile of the fork and headtube to the sleek tubing of the seat stays, the frame fills a gap between the ultra-light Emonda and the more utilitarian Domane.
