Last year the forum was talking about the relationship breakup between IRONMAN World Champion Chelsea Sodaro and Canyon. The two mutually agreed to part ways with an understanding that the bike just didn’t fit right for her. Since then Chelsea and her team have been taking their time in search for “bike love.” For last year’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice, she rode a tricked out Pinarello with an upgraded front fork and custom bars. For Nice, it was all about weight and handling.
Since that race, the search has been on. “We took multiple bike brands to the Velodrome for testing,” said Steve Sodaro. “And in the end, the new Ventum [Tempus] checked all our boxes.”
One problem, though: the World Champ was not on Ventum’s 2025 sponsorship bingo card. But when the call came into Ventum HQ that Chelsea wanted to test the new bike, they made the shipment happen quickly. Following a lot of testing and fitting, Chelsea and Ventum Co-CEO Barrett Brandon worked together to make the partnership official.
“Racing for Ventum is a dream come true,” said Chelsea. “I’m equipment obsessed and I’ve been riding the bike for several months — the Tempus passes all of my tests from fit to feel to aerodynamics. I can’t wait to rip on this machine in 2025 and beyond.”
It’s a big year for Ventum when it comes to adding talent to the roster. This signing caps a sponsorship spree with big names including fellow Americans Ben Kanute and Danielle Lewis, as well as international stars Steph Clutterbuck, Kieran Lindars, India Lee, and Tom Bishop all moving to Ventum for 2025.
We hope to get a closer look at Chelsea’s Tempus build this week at Ironman Texas.
That’s one weird set up.
Take a seatpost, uci legal?, with a huge set back only to mount the saddle on it so far forward it sits beyond the max clamping point of the rails….
Why just not move the clamp forward and clamp at the middle section of the rails?
She also seem to use the Most bar she had on the Pinna. Interesting.
Looks like she lacks a bit of reach compared to her Pinna fit.
Just here to say the picture of mom and daughter (going “vrrroooom!”)on bikes makes the post worth looking at. Sponsorship contract should insist on at least one of those per week.
Good catch. I don’t understand the seatpost/saddle setup either. Only thing that would make sense to me is they couldn’t get her a non uci seatpost in time for the photo shoot.
In T100 London, Sodaro on her new (to her) Bolide was shifting forwards and back like a shifty one en route to a ride 5 minutes slower than Philipp (but then a run faster than Philipp and Matthews). She swam and rode all the way with Jewett, who then put 2 minutes into her on the run.
This in mind in the context of Texas on Saturday.
I see the thigh space has been sold to Ventum vice Wyn. Is Wyn Republic still her clothing sponsor? We’ll see.
Seems like Ventum has decided to sponsor a lot of new athletes in conjunction with this bicycle release. I’m doubtful that will offer a positive return for them. For Chelsea I hope it is a good contract because the Pinarello is much nicer [IMO].
That is indeed a great picture. Reminds of when my daughter was younger and she use to ride her bike with me when I went on a long run. Some days she wanted to run for a bit, and I had to ride her tiny bike back home xD.
Looking at this bike I would like to see her front end :-). She was already a bit cramped in reach compared to her previous bike and I think also to the Canyon.
But she can also add the PD extenders like the other Tempus riders do.
When I asked Ventum in the other channel they said that the UCI seatpost was a later release to the one we see all the other Ventum athletes use. I’m not surprised Chelsea is using the UCI seatpost though judging by how steep the seat tube angle is on the Tempus. Sometimes you just push better power with a setback saddle. I for example like to run around 25-70mm of setback depending on my bike for my saddles just because I feel like I can recruit my glute muscles better.
Looking at the other athletes though Danielle Lewis and Steph Clutterbuck for example both have their saddles mounted pretty far back in relation to the seatpost despite not having that much saddle setback.
I haven’t seen these before but you are right. Those saddles are far mounted forward on the rails, especially the ism pn saddle. That sits about the opposite of Cedaro’s and she would benefit of the uci legal seatpost.
I don’t think the issue is that she is using a UCI compliant seat post or that she likes to ride more slack. It’s more that the clamping position is not the best and is putting unnecessary stress on the seat, rails, and seatpost clamp. At least the from the pictures provided in the OP.
In the pictures you provided, F4 athlete would benefit from the uci seapost. The other picture looks perfectly fine to me.
