Tour de France Femmes pro bikes: Marianne Vos's new Cervélo S5

Tour de France Femmes pro bikes: Marianne Vos's new Cervélo S5

A closer look at the legendary Dutchwoman's new Cervélo S5

Photos: James Startt Tour de France Femmes Words: Richard Windsor

The newest iteration of Cervélo's S5 has been conspicuous by its number of race wins, despite only being released to the public on Tuesday.

It's been ridden to victory a lot this month, first by Wout van Aert and then by Jonas Vingegaard in his overall Tour de France win on Sunday.

Its success under Jumbo-Visma riders continued into the Tour de France Femmes, being ridden by the great Marianne Vos to a second place on stage one in Paris, before crossing the line in victory on a chaotic stage two.

The key changes Cervélo has made to the S5 include a redesign of the tube shapes, which are deeper and "more aggressive" according to the company itself.

The frame redesign also means the S5 is right on trend by offering more tyre clearance, now offering space for up to 34mm tyres.

The fork and front end have had a rethink too. The unique V-stem and bar combination, plus the fork assembly, no longer means making adjustments to the front end setup is a painful, time consuming process. Cervélo claims these changes also makes the bike lighter.

While the men's Jumbo-Visma team ride Shimano wheels on their road bikes, the women's team ride Cervélo's sister wheel brand, Reserve. 

The new S5 has been launched alongside an updated set of Reserve 52/63 wheels. These are built wider for better aerodynamics can comfort, says Cervélo, hence why the frame was redesigned to allow for more tyre clearance.

At the Tour de France Femmes we were able to get a closer look at Marianne Vos' new Cervélo S5, the bike she rode into the yellow jersey on stage two.

The V-shaped stem has become more user friendly in this latest iteration, while the S5's bars are an updated shape to make them more comfortable compared to the old versions.

The front-on shot of the bars shows Cervélo and FSA stickers adorning the front. While FSA is a technical partner of the Jumbo-Visma team, the S5 features proprietary bars and seat-post, and the components are all Shimano, so the currently features no hardware produced by FSA, though it does supply the bar tape.

Vos looks to be using the Garmin 530 head unit as her computer of choice during races.

The Dutchwoman's bike has minimal customisations, but she is using sprint shifters on the drops under the FSA bar tape.

The S5 is equipped with its own seat post, which on Vos' bike, is topped with a Fizik Argo saddle. The 35-year-old's race number is 41 for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and this race-ready bike is already equipped with the race organiser's data tracking unit under the saddle.

As you may have spotted from the shifters, Vos has yet to receive the latest 12-speed Shimano Dura-Ace groupset on her bike, so is instead using the older 11-speed R9150 Dura-Ace Di2 groupset. The new S5 is only compatible with electronic groupsets.

Vos doesn't look to be using any kind of power meter here, perhaps preferring to ride more on instinct and feel than by numbers.

While the men's team use Shimano Dura-Ace wheels, the women's team are using the latest 52/63 Reserve wheels. These numbers refer to the rim depth. Up front is the 52mm deep wheel, while the rear is 63mm deep.

The 28mm Vittoria Corsa Graphene 2.0 tyres adorning the wheels are set up tubeless, though the riders at Jumbo-Visma could run up to 34mm wide tyres if they so wished on the redesigned S5.

Photos: James Startt Tour de France Femmes Words: Richard Windsor

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