Gear

Tour tech: Sylvain Chavanel's custom EMX-5

To celebrate Bastille Day Eddy Merckx delivered a custom painted EMX-5 bike for Sylvain Chavanel.

The Quick Step rider is currently riding today’s stage of the Tour de France, the first foray into the mountains and with it the chance to see the top contenders show their cards, on a bike painted to celebrate the French National Day.

Otherwise, it’s a standard Eddy Merckx EMX-5 underneath the special one day livery, and that means a frame made from 46High Modulus carbon fibre with Optimized Structural Reinforcement technology delivering a stiff ride.Other key features include an oversized bottom bracket and tapered head tube.

Frame weight is just over 1kg and is pictured here built with full Campagnolo Record 11-speed groupset and Bora Ultra wheels.