Race Tech

Pinarello launch ‘lighter, more aero’ Bolide TT time trial bike

Team Sky's Mikel Landa debuts updated TT bike at Giro d'Italia

UPDATE: Mikel Landa abandons 2016 Giro d’Italia with illness

Team Sky’s Mikel Landa rode Pinarello’s new Bolide TT time trial bike to a top 20 finish at the Giro d’Italia on Sunday to rise to eighth overall in the general classification.

Landa finished two minutes and 20 seconds behind LottoNL-Jumbo’s Primoz Roglic on the stage nine time trial in Chianti, but crucially only conceded seven seconds to GC rival Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).

Mikel Landa lies eighth overall at the Giro d’Italia after stage nine(Pic: Sirotti)

Pinarello say the updated Bolide TT is more aerodynamic than the original Bolide, on which Sir Bradley Wiggins and Vasil Kiryienka won the World Championship time trial in 2014 and 2015 respectively, while also reducing the overall ‘framekit’ weight by 350g – a significant saving on a time trial bike.

While Pinarello haven’t put any numbers on the Bolide TT’s aero gain, they do point a number of new features designed to help the bike cut through the air. There’s a new concave downtube profile, which is said to reduce the gap between the water bottle and frame in order to reduce air turbulence in what Pinarello call ‘an essential zone of the frame’.

Pinarello say the sloping toptube has been reworked with aerodynamic gains in mind, the hidden rear brake design is inspired by the aerospace industry and the front dropouts have been borrowed from the Bolide HR, the specially adapted track bike on which Wiggins set the world hour record in June 2015.

The Bolide TT is made from Torayca T1100 carbon fibre and the frame is designed for use with an electronic groupset. The integrated brakes are designed by Pinarello and the frame will be available in four sizes. The bike which Landa rode at the Giro had a titanium handlebar designed specifically for the Italian.

The Bolide TT has a concave downtube designed to reduce air turbulence around the bottle cage area

“This is our seventh year working in partnership with Pinarello, and we’re very proud of that,” said Team Sky’s head of technical operations, Carsten Jeppesen.

“We’ve had fantastic success in that time, but the reason the relationship between Team Sky and Pinarello works is that we don’t rest on that success. We’re always looking ahead to see where we can gain an advantage, and the new Bolide is just the latest example of that.”