Chris Froome moved into the yellow jersey on last Saturday’s first Pyrenean stage and extended his lead on stage 11’s individual time trial – the first of two tests against the clock – riding the new Pinarello Bolide.
The Bolide was first unveiled ahead of the Giro d’Italia, where Bradley Wiggins briefly rode what was, at the time, the only model available before a mechanical forced the 33-year-old, who would later abandon the race, to switch to the existing Graal.
We then spotted Olympic time trial bronze medallist Froome on the Bolide at the Criterium du Dauphine during a time trial which essentially replicates the course of stage 17 of the Tour de France.
Pinarello say the Bolide is 15 per cent more aerodynamic and five per cent lighter than the Graal. More aerodynamic thanks to a number of slippery features, including updated tube profiles and integrated brakes which are covered by fairings (deemed legal by the UCI), and lighter because of the use of the same Torayca 65HM1K carbon fibre which makes up the Dogma 65.1 Think 2 road bike.
Froome is the only Team Sky rider to use osymmetric chainrings after Wiggins ditched them at the start of the season in favour of round rings. That’s just one of the details we spotted on the Kenyan-born Brit’s time trial machine – open the gallery above to take a closer look.
