Tour de France bikes: Geraint Thomas's new Pinarello Bolide F TT

Thomas had already ridden it at the Critérium du Dauphiné, but now Pinarello has officially lifted the veil on its new time trial masterpiece

Photos: James Startt Words: Nick Busca

Like the new Trek Madone, the newest iteration of the Pinarello Bolide (called Bolide F TT) appeared, not so subtly, at the Critérium du Dauphiné last month.
On that occasion, Geraint Thomas (winner of the GC and runner-up in the time trial in Vaduz behind Remco Evenepoel) had ridden a black and white camo frame.

But now that the Tour de France is underway, we've got a closer look at G's official coloured Bolide ahead of the opening ITT in Copenhagen. And it's everything you'd expect from a Bolide.

At first glance – and even more so when looking at the customised black and white model of the TT World Champion Filippo Ganna – the new Bolide looks 'muscular'. That's a result of new tube shapes used throughout the frame, a solution that makes the Bolide look a bit like its little sister Dogma F, Ineos Grenadiers' choice for road stages.

Related: Tour de France 2022. Route and stagesThe new Bolide F TT, following in the footsteps of Pinarello's triathlon Bolide, is now fitted with disc brakes too. It may have lost some speed there due to the increase in drag, but the improvements in handling and braking performances surely outweigh the losses.

And with the use of disc brakes, as we've learned in the last couple of years, the Bolide F TT can now fit wider tires, once again an improvement in terms of rolling resistance and something that will ultimately increase speed on the road and comfort in the TT position.

The Bolide can run 28mm tyres, if you were wondering. Thomas will ride Conti 5000 tyres – with the German brand being one of the main technical sponsors of the Tour.

But there are no tyres without wheels, and we're sure you've noticed the nice-looking prototype of Princeton CarbonWorks wheelset (tri-spoke in the front, disc in the back).

The front end of the Bolide is also brand new, where most of the aero gains come from, according to Pinarello. The main news lies in the handlebars' shape and the integrated Most TT bars (titanium 3D printed). These cost between €17,000 and €20,000. Yes, just for the bars.

It is still not clear what drivetrain and chainring will Thomas will use on the opening stage of the Tour, but apparently not the Dura Ace Di2 pictured here.