Photos: James Mitchell
Team Bianchi have a new look on their beautiful fleet of celeste Aquila RCs, but look a bit closer and each bike of the six-athlete squad has a different cockpit.
The bike frames unite them as a team and all share the same major components: SRAM Red AXS, CADEX Ultra 50 wheels (with Max Aero disc and Aero 4-spoke 1K for racing), ROTOR power meters and Aldhu carbon cranks, Pirelli P Zero Races RS TLR 28mm tyres, and Elite bottle cages and aero bottles. They each have Wahoo head units as well, either the Roam 3 or Bolt 3. However, as Team Bianchi principal Bob de Wolf notes, for performance reasons, bar extensions are an area where they give athletes the freedom to choose what works best for them. It goes to show the importance of individual needs and that there truly isn’t one best aerodynamic option out there. But, with so many choices on the market, it’s useful to know what the pros are choosing so we can benefit from all their wind tunnel testing, research, and access to the latest developments–plus, who doesn’t like a little bit of bike â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â–
Laura Madsen: FastTT
Laura Madsen, the Dane returning for her second year on the team, has the most familiar set up. Choosing the FastTT extensions in size medium, Madsen praised the simplicity of the bars. While she was the only one not running a BTA bottle, she has been seen racing with one (at T100 London, for example). The New Zealand company’s extensions are listed at $1,065 USD.
Laura Madsen at team training camp in Lanzarote.
Finn Grosse-Freese: TRI-C
Finn Grosse-Freese, the young German standing at 1.76m (5’9”), has a new prototype TRI-C custom carbon cockpit due for release in the next few months. It’s a change from his previous TRI-C dual extensions to new mono extension, but both were combined with a dual BTA set up and central computer mount. While details on the new version are yet to be released, the current custom set up is the most expensive of the bunch at an eye-watering €2,745.38 ($3,265 USD).
Miguel Hidalgo: Delta Speed
The hot-shot Brazilian, Miguel Hidalgo, who finished second in the WTCS world rankings last year, is still focused on short course racing, but his long distance set-up doesn’t fall short of what you’d expect from an athlete of his calibre. Well, maybe it does since it’s not completely custom? Running Delta Speed’s monoextension, the Italian company’s primary aero offering, the off-the-rack cockpit (which seemed a tad flimsy to us) is listed at €981.89 ($1,168 USD).
Cameron Main: Sync Ergonomics
Cameron Main, the Scottish athlete who is based in Australia, has the most unique bars of the bunch: a Sync Ergonomics “Aerobar Three.” What makes it a bit different are the hand grips which are angled inwards at a flatter incline, meaning your hands are facing slightly downwards instead of more vertical (see photo below). The Australian company has worked with world tour teams, track cyclists and collaborated with CADEX to help design their frameset cockpit. The “Aerobar Three,” their latest and top-of-the-line, is listed at a steep starting price of $2,727 AUD ($1,899 USD).
Cameron Main at team training camp in Lanzarote.
Daisy Davies: Tetsuo
Daisy Davies, the 23-year-old impressive Brit, is another Team Bianchi athlete running a prototype. The monoextension from Tetsuo seems to just be an iteration of the company’s current “Masamune” model. The Spanish company boasts up to a 30 watt saving with their 400.8 g carbon bar that costs between €1,628.95-€1,738.90 ($1,931-$2,061 USD), depending on the configuration of mounting brackets for different bike brands.
Antonio Benito Lopez: Uniqo Custom Bikes
Unfortunately, Antonio Benito Lopez had a mechanical issue at the time of writing and was on back-up bars (and we love him even more for electrical taping his computer onto the bars for training). In lieu of photos, you can see a video on his social media where he runs through his set up. He typically runs a custom carbon “motion series” cockpit from Uniqo Custom Bikes, an upgrade he made last year. The bars come in 5 monoextension options with three different triathlon grips for €1,210 ($1,434 USD).
Want to see more? Tell us what bars you want us to review in the comments below.