Specialized have unveiled a McLaren edition of the S-Works Tarmac and Tinkoff-Saxo’s Nicolas Roche will ride it at the Tour de France.
Roche was handed the Specialized S-Works McLaren Tarmac at the team hotel in Yorkshire ahead of the team’s training ride on Thursday and we were there to see the Irishman swing a leg over the new machine for the first time.
The McLaren Tarmac takes advantage of the super car manufacturer’s carbon fibre expertise to shed approximately ten per cent in weight compared to the standard – and recently revised – Tarmac ridden by Roche’s team-mates and which first broke cover at the Giro d’Italia. A Tinkoff-Saxo mechanic told us he had to add a significant amount of ballast to Roche’s bike to bring it up to the UCI’s 6.8kg weight limit.
Only 250 of S-Works McLaren Tarmac frames will be put into production, with a limited edition orange and black colourway handpainted in McLaren’s Woking workshop.
Each production bike will be equipped with a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset – with a new version of Specialized’s S-Works crankset and custom EE Cycleworks brakes – and a Roval CLX40R wheelset. That’ll set you back a cool £16,000.
Roche’s machine, on the other hand, was dressed in team issue kit, with a SRAM Red 22 groupset, Roval CLX40 wheels, Zipp finishing kit and a Prologo saddle.
Let’s take a closer look.
