First appearance of Factor branded bike since final stage of Giro d'Italia
(Image credit: Eurosport GCN)
The Stage 20 time trial of the 2021 Tour de France saw Chris Froome and his Israel Start-Up Nation teammates take to the start ramp aboard an as-yet-unreleased Factor time trial bike.
The bike is the same as the model that first appeared at the Giro d'Italia at the end of May, but at that time it was completely blacked out, devoid of any branding whatsoever, leaving no obvious clues as to the brand or model name. As a result, it was presumed to be a new Factor Slick, in replacement for the team sponsor's existing TT bike.
The bike, also ridden by Andre Greipel who today announced his retirement, is complete with a large Factor logo on the downtube, confirming suspicions that it is indeed a new Factor time trial bike. More notably, however, it is accompanied by the wordmark 'Hanzo' on the top tube, suggesting that instead of being a new 'Slick', this TT bike will get an all-new name.
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The top tube features the 'Hanzo' wordmark(Image credit: Eurosport GCN)
It comes just a day after the team's co-owner, Sylvan Adams, leaked that it was indeed a Factor bike when complementing the bike's designer, saying "Factor’s gifted super engineer Graham Shrive has produced a new TT bike which we first tried at the Giro".
The frame itself is radical in its construction, utilising ultra-wide seat stays and fork legs that arc outward rapidly from their starting point, before continuing downward to the dropouts. It is a design not unlike the radical track bike designed by Lotus and Hope for the Tokyo Olympics.
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The bike features radical wide fork legs and seat stays(Image credit: Eurosport GCN)
Alongside the Factor branding, it features a spider web of colour, resplendent of the Israel Start-Up Nation logo across the downtube, seatstays and forks.
Froome's bike has been paired with wheels from Black Inc, despite using non-sponsor Lightweight wheels at points during the race. The Factor base bar is paired with extensions from 51 Speedshop and Drag2Zero arm rests.
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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.
