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2008 Pro Team bikes
This year's models
By the Cyclingnews technical team
Welcome to Cyclingnews' 2008 pro bike section; a look at what the professionals will be riding this season. During the 2008 year, we'll bring you a selection of images and specifications of the latest and hottest bikes.
Ben Jacques-Maynes' Bissell Pro Cycling Team Pinarello Montello FM1
With seven NRC wins and a third place finish in the Tour of California prologue in 2007, seven-year professional Ben Jacques-Maynes is one of the best known racers on the US domestic road circuit and carries on into the 2008 season with the Bissell Pro Cycling Team. The team's title sponsor is perhaps equally well known for its line of vacuum cleaners, but it also boasts a strong history of pro cycling sponsorship as well. As part of the "company's commitment to healthy living both inside and outside the home," Bissell was previously a supporter of the now defunct Discovery Channel team. In addition, Bissell President and CEO Mark Bissell is even a member of the Board of Directors at the USA Cycling Development Foundation. In light of the seemingly tenuous nature of corporate sponsorship these days, the Bissell team enjoys a increasingly rare sense of stability. "In ink, we have the next three years," said Team Manager Mark Olson. "But the reality is Mark [Bissell] is very committed. He's very passionate about the sport and he's put a lot into the sport, not just in our program but throughout US cycling. As long as we're doing a good job and we're delivering a high quality program I think he'll be there as long as we want to do this. So we're very stable financially, and the same with Bob Hughes of Advantage Benefits. He's been there the whole time and is committed for the long term." To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå's Multivan-Merida Merida Ninety-Six
When all is said and done, Norway's Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå may just go down as the most dominant female mountain biker in history. With the exception of two poor seasons attributed to severe overtraining, the 34 year-old has been a constant and overshadowing presence at the sport's uppermost level almost immediately since turning professional in 1996 with two World Cup wins and a fourth-place finish at the Olympic games in Atlanta. Since 2002, she has also earned seven sets of UCI world championship stripes (four in cross-country, three in marathon) and has won the European title six times (five cross-country, one marathon). In spite of the success, though, the Norwegian remains surprisingly unassuming, is eminently approachable and personable, and has managed to retain her love of the sport. Many have wondered about the secret to that nearly unrelenting mass of success, but Dahle Flesjå insists that there is no such secret; just focused determination, a meticulous attention to detail, and lots of good old fashioned elbow grease on behalf of herself and her husband and trainer, Kenneth Flesjå To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Pat McCarty's Slipstream/Chipotle presented by H3O Felt F1
The 2008 Slipstream/Chipotle powered by H3O team has quickly become one of cycling's next great hopes in the struggle to pull the sport out of its doldrums. Its star-studded roster, which now includes Magnus Backstedt, Tom Danielson, David Millar, and David Zabriskie, naturally bodes well for race results but it's the team's aggressive anti-doping stance (in both words and actions) and overall atmosphere that has the world buzzing. "If we really want to keep doping off of this team, off of the stage, out of cycling, we have to win within the context of humanity," stressed directeur sportif Jonathan Vaughters at the team presentation this past November. "It's simply saying that some days are great, some days are not. The wins will come to this team, but when no one expects it. And when everyone thinks we'll be there, we may fail. To agree to not dope, to agree to never let that enter the context the team is to agree to fail sometimes. To agree to let your fans down sometimes is to agree to the fallibility of the human body... but to abide by humanity is also to go beyond anyone's dreams on the occasion, to celebrate the joy, the rarity, and the preciousness of winning when it does occur, and to celebrate with honesty. You have a choice in cycling: you can choose to turn a blind eye and cheer for glory at all costs... or you can choose to choose to cheer humanity and celebrate the rarity of victory and perfection." To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Chris Eatough's Trek-VW Trek Top Fuel
Trek-VW's Chris Eatough is the unequivocal king of 24-hour solo endurance mountain bike racing. Since turning professional in 1999, Eatough (say 'EE-TOFF') has dominated the discipline with six consecutive world solo championships, two US National solo titles, and countless wins at various other endurance events. At just 33 years of age, the British native that now calls the US state of Maryland his home shows no signs of stopping or slowing down and currently offers up no imminent plans for retirement, surely to the chagrin of the competition that eagerly awaits its chance in the spotlight. Eatough's successes on the race course are naturally the result of many hours of training but not likely of the type that most would expect. Although he obviously spends a full day in the saddle come race time, he rarely embarks on training rides that are longer than three to four hours. Longer days are tossed into the mix on occasion or prior to a major event, but otherwise he has built up such a solid foundation of base miles and fitness that most of the time is merely spent maintaining that level. To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Sarah Hammer's Felt TK1
Track rider Sarah Hammer is one of the United States' best hopefuls for a gold medal at the upcoming Summer Olympics in Beijing this August. Hammer began competing when she was just eight years old; 16 years later at the age of 24 she now finds herself the reigning two-time World Pursuit Champion after successfully defending her title in Palma de Mallorca, has won over half a dozen World Cup events, and also holds twenty US National titles on the track. Hammer has competed on Look and BT machines in the past but switched her bike sponsorship earlier this year to Felt Bicycles. In many ways it was a natural fit: Felt's headquarters is only an hour away from Hammer's residence in Temecula (barring typical SoCal traffic, of course) and roughly marks the halfway point on the way to her training grounds at the ADT Event Center. Moreover, Felt is also the official bike sponsor of the venue. As good as Felt's extant TK2 aluminum track machine probably already was, a rider of Hammer's stature clearly warranted something special and development work on a new carbon bike started almost immediately after the sponsorship deal was announced. To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Mark Cavendish's Team High Road Giant TCR Advanced SL Team prototype
British sprinting sensation Mark Cavendish made an impressive debut during his first season as a professional in 2007 on the German-registered T-Mobile squad. Team manager Bob Stapleton filled the roster with a wealth of young and promising talent led by an elite group of veterans and also adopted a progressive internal anti-doping program that he hoped would lead the team into a newly invigorated and clean future. Nevertheless, a high-profile flurry of long-past doping revelations led T-Mobile to remove its name as the team's title sponsor but a settlement deal has allowed Stapleton to continue on mostly as planned under the new title of Team High Road. Old team, new name...new bike!Cavendish thus heads into the 2008 season with a change of team kit and title but also a new machine as long-time sponsor Giant has outfitted the squad with a brand new version of its time-tested TCR Advanced. We tested Cavendish's actual race bike a few months back and found it to be the quintessential sprint machine with a smart drivetrain response, firm ride and edgy handling characteristics that suited its intended purpose to a T. Even so, Giant says the team's new TCR Advanced SL is a significant improvement. To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Paolo Bettini's Quick Step Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL2
Specialized outfitted Quick Step rider Tom Boonen last year with a custom version of its S-Works Tarmac SL2 that incorporated a few key geometry changes specifically requested by the Belgian sprinting superstar. For 2008, however, Specialized has apparently seen fit to supply similarly proportioned machines to the rest of the team, including the current Olympic and two-time road world champion Paolo Bettini. The Tarmac geometry has always been decidedly compact, but the Quick Step team version for 2008 has become even racier with a shorter head tube that allows riders to adopt a lower, more aggressive and even more aerodynamic position. The riders were presented with their new frames at the team's December training camp with extra carbon spacers under the stems to replicate the position of their original SL2's but Bettini wasted little time in dropping down a bit further, indicating that il Grillo was very much in favour of the new aggressive position. Sadly, this new geometry will not be available to us mortals just yet. To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Philippe Gilbert's Française des Jeux Lapierre HM X-LiteWhat makes a good classics bike? We took a close look at Het Volk winner Philippe Gilbert's Lapierre HM X-Lite. ProTour team La Française des Jeux has started the season well: Belgian star Philippe Gilbert has already won two races and the overall in the Mallorca Challenge as well as an impressive victory in the Omloop Het Volk earlier this month. The team has been riding French Lapierre bikes since 2002 and Gilbert's HM X-Lite machine proved to be well suited to the cobbles in Het Volk as he blasted away with 50km to go and soloed to victory. To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Hilton Clarke's Toyota-United Fuji SL1
After a three-year jaunt on a Colnago with the Navigators Professional Cycling team, Australian sprinter Hilton Clarke joined the Toyota-United squad and their team issued Fuji SL1 machines. Set up for a successful season, Hilton aims at improving on his palmares of over 30 career victories that include podiums in his native country's Bay Crit Series, the CSC Invitational and his most prized win in the 2006 USPRO criterium championship at Downers Grove. Toyota-United hopped on the carbon fiber bandwagon two years ago when it swapped its own brand of aluminum-and-carbon rigs for the all-carbon SL1 of new sponsor Fuji. At a claimed sub-900g, the monocoque SL1 frame is markedly lighter than the team's old bikes but also supposedly stiffer with its Energy Transfer Chainstays, a characteristic particularly important to a sprinter like Hilton Clarke. To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Scott Nydam's BMC SLC01 Pro Machine
It could easily be said that second-year professional rider Scott Nydam is living out a dream from which he has yet to wake. Nydam finds himself a returning member of the up-and-coming UCI Professional Continental BMC factory team amidst a healthy environment and bubbling over with enthusiasm. The team claimed the 'most aggressive' crown at the recent Tour of California and Nydam also walked away with the KOM jersey after several particularly gutsy performances. Nydam is well aware of his good fortune and isn't bashful about sharing his feelings on the situation. "It's been great. Every step that we've taken and I've been able to be a part of, I feel has been an appropriate step in the development of the team as well as the development for me as a rider. So personally I feel like there's a good parallel with the growth of the team and at what pace and how far I want to go as a rider. I really couldn't have scripted a better spot for me to be in. We have incredible management, incredible staff, we have the best sponsor in the sport, the best materials. There's absolutely nothing holding me back." To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Marta Bastianelli's Safi-Pasta Zara-Manhattan Pinarello Prince
Having recently featured the bike of men's world champion Paolo Bettini, it seems only proper that we should also take a closer look at the steed of his female counterpart, Italian compatriot Marta Bastianelli. To this end, we managed to coax it - and briefly her - to one side before the recent Trofeo Alfredo Binda, in the northern Italian town of Cittiglio. Bastianelli won her rainbow jersey in slightly unexpected fashion in Stuttgart last year. The 20 year-old rider was sent up the road to force riders of other nations - particularly those of Dutch defending champion Marianne Vos - to chase to the benefit of Italian team captain Giorgia Bronzini. However, no concerted chase ever developed and Bastianelli was able to win alone. Vos won the sprint for silver, and Bronzini - appropriately - took the bronze. From a visual perspective, Bastianelli's bike stands in stark contrast to that of Bettini. Whereas the Quick.Step rider's steed is resplendent in custom rainbow and gold livery from stem to stern to celebrate his world and Olympic titles, Bastianelli's bike is essentially standard team issue white-and-red with only a rainbow-striped Selle Italia SLR saddle and some appropriately coloured bar tape to celebrate the achievement. While this could be taken as a sign of the champion's modesty, it is far more likely an indicator of the unfortunate gulf in budgets between the men's and women's sides of the sport. To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Irina Kalentieva's Topeak Ergon Rotwild Team R.R2
Current UCI mountain bike world champion Irina Kalentieva has done ample justice to the rainbow stripes she earned last year in Fort William, Scotland. Kalentieva finished second at this year's first World Cup round in Houffalize, Belgium and then followed that up with a convincing win in the hot and dry conditions of Offenburg, Germany. At just 1.5m and 46kg (5'1", 101lb), Kalentieva is a natural climber and thus places a particularly high priority on cutting grams off of her equipment which can easily comprise roughly 20 percent of her body weight. As a result, her team-issued Rotwild R.R2 carbon hardtail boasts a wealth of unique modifications and custom equipment well beyond its fancy paintjob and stickers. These differences are most noticeable on the scale: Rotwild's top-end R.R2 production model weighs 8.8kg (19.4lb) but Kalentieva's bike is an even slimmer 8.3kg (18.3lb). To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Thor Hushovd's Crédit Agricole Look 585 Paris-Roubaix
Thor Hushovd, Crédit Agricole's Norwegian strongman, has proven himself to be a potent one-day rider with prologue wins at both the Tour de France and Paris-Nice, stage wins at Le Grand Boucle and other multi-day events, and even a win at Gent-Wevelgem in 2006. Unfortunately, though, Hushovd had a disappointing showing at this year's Paris-Roubaix: the 'Viking' abandoned the race at the first feed zone after reportedly suffering a nasty crash early on. The morning of the start brought surprisingly pleasant conditions such that specially dedicated mud machines weren't entirely necessary. Even so, Hushovd set off from Compiègne aboard a Look 585 Origin instead of his usual 595. According to head mechanic Pascal Ridel, the swap wasn't made for any durability or strength reasons; it was strictly a question of comfort. "It's a little smoother than the 595," he said. To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Todd Wells' GT Zaskar Carbon
To most onlookers at the opening UCI World Cup in Houffalize the GT factory team camp was operating as a well oiled machine, powering US Olympic hopeful Todd Wells to a career-best eleventh place finish on a brand-new GT Zaskar Carbon. However, for both Wells and his teammate, Burry Stander, these bikes were anything but part of the race day plan. Both riders were originally supposed to race on their familiar aluminum bikes from late 2007 while the new carbon frames waited in the team van until time allowed for a proper build and shake-out period later in the season. However, Saturday morning brought an unpleasant surprise for the GT, Multivan Merida, Scott, and Hope crews as a rash of overnight thefts left many without bikes and other key equipment. Fortunately for GT those new carbon frames were left inexplicably untouched (others were not so lucky) and a manic building process ensued to salvage the weekend. Helped by some friends who had come to spectate for the weekend, team mechanic Mark Maurrisen set forth on a frantic mission sourcing parts from across the expo area. To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Heather Irmiger's Subaru-Gary Fisher Genesister Hardtail
US Olympic hopeful Heather Irmiger is currently making her way across the hectic UCI World Cup circuit on her usual bright pink bike, only this time around it's a brand new all-aluminum model also shared by teammates Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Willow Koerber. Logistical constraints have meant that each team member could only take one bike to the first five races and the World Championships. For the majority of those European courses, a hardtail was deemed the best option. Unlike Irmiger's 2007 aluminum hardtail which was a wholly custom build using a mix of various tubing (including some Klein Gradient road-specific pipes), the new machine is closer to a stock offering although consumers still shouldn't expect to see anything like it in the near future. Her new rig is actually a prototype '09 model built with 6066 alloy and far more dramatic tube shaping than we're used to seeing from the nameplate. In fact, the prototype's curvaceous multi-sided down tube bears a similar profile to that of the current Fuel EX of parent company Trek while the top tube employs the more familiar Gary Fisher hydroformed design cues. To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
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Staf Scheirlinckx' Cofidis Time VXS Paris-Roubaix
Like many of the riders in this year's Paris-Roubaix, Cofidis' Staf Scheirlinckx set off from the start in Compiègne aboard what looked to be a reasonably stock-looking machine. As we've all now come to realize, though, Scheirlinckx' Time VXS bore a few visually subtle modifications intended to ease the 259.5km (161.2mi) journey into the Roubaix velodrome. A little extra room was added at both ends to provide a slightly longer wheelbase for stability while the bottom bracket height was supposedly raised just a bit for ground clearance over the unforgiving cobbles. The stock VXS Translink's semi-integrated seatpost was swapped in favor of a more conventional setup and Scheirlinckx' fork was fitted with an alloy steerer instead of the usual carbon one. Given the fork's telltale fade-type paint (and the relatively hefty 8.0kg (17.6lb) complete bike weight), we're guessing the crown was alloy as well. To view the full Pro Bike, click here. |
