National and European road race champ gets all-blue BMC Timemachine Road
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Giacomo Nizzolo's new BMC Timemachine Road for the Giro d'Italia(Image credit: Qhubeka Assos)
The bike is designed with an integrated cockpit for aerodynamic efficiency(Image credit: Qhubeka Assos)
Further maximising the efficiency of the bike, Nizzolo is using an aero chainring, CeramicSpeed's OSPW, and Hunt's 80mm tubular wheels(Image credit: Qhubeka Assos)
His European champion's saddle contrasts with the Italian flag on the top tube(Image credit: Qhubeka Assos)
It was little more than six weeks ago that Giacomo Nizzolo enjoyed the joyous feeling of a 'New Bike Day'. As a celebration of his current status as both national and European road race champion, Qhubeka Assos awarded the sprinter with a suitably special bike ahead of the season's first monument, Milan-San Remo.
But the time has come yet again, with the Giro d'Italia just a day away, and the South African outfit has unveiled yet another celebratory machine, which follows a similar design but with a lot more blue.
While the paint scheme is different, the bike itself is the same BMC Timemachine Road model as before, with Nizzolo seemingly remaining steadfast on maximising the efficiency of his setup. For the photoshoot at least, Nizzolo's bike is pictured with deep-section 80mm tubular wheels from wheel sponsor Hunt, with the tyres wrapped and unbranded, but it was announced Friday that the team had signed a multi-year deal with Goodyear so we expect to see new rubber by the time the bike hits the tarmac on Sunday's stage 2.
In addition to those super-deep Hunt wheels, Nizzolo's bike is fitted with various bits of watt-saving tech, including CeramicSpeed's OSPW oversized pulley wheel system, which according to the Danish brand, is worth "at least 2.4 watts compared to Shimano's standard system", as well as a suitably-bling golden chain, which we assume has been treated by CeramicSpeed with its UFO wax treatment.
BMC's Timemachine Road is somewhat unique in its design of hydration storage, which sees the bottle cages built into the design of the frame for maximum aerodynamic efficiency. Ironically, as a side-note, the system was designed in conjunction with Italian brand Elite, but a year after the bike's launch the team switched bottle sponsors away to another Italian brand, Tacx. Nonetheless, the function remains the same, and as we found out in our recent BMC Timemachine SLR review, they are some of the best bottle cages we've ever used.
In order to measure his watts, Nizzolo is using Rotor's InSpider four-bolt spider-based power meter, which is bolted between the same brand's Aldhu carbon crank and, offering more aero gains, an aero chainring.
Unfortunately, despite endless rumours about a new Shimano Dura-Ace groupset on the horizon, we're still yet to see it in the WorldTour, and the tried and tested Dura-Ace Di2 R9170 groupset remains in situ here, and while many teams have been seen switching to XTR mountain bike disc rotors, Nizzolo is sticking with the ever-so-slightly-more-aerodynamic Dura-Ace rotors.
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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.
