Geraint Thomas powers to overall victory aboard a new disc-brake TT machine

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A new Pinarello Bolide time trial bike with a completely redesigned frameset and disc brakes received its WorldTour race debut at the Tour de Suisse yesterday.

Geraint Thomas and Dani Martínez, of Team Ineos-Grenadiers, both rode the new bike to top-five finishes on the stage, with Thomas securing victory in the general classification.

We know this new bike will retain the ‘Bolide’ name because the brash stickers covering the bike clearly give that away on close inspection.

While there have been various iterations of the Pinarello Bolide (such the Bolide HR for Bradley Wiggins’ Hour Record in 2015, a lighter Bolide TT with refined tube shapes in 2016 and the triathlon-specific Bolide TR+ in 2018) since the original launched in 2013, this new bike represents the first wholesale overhaul of the Bolide platform in nearly a decade.

The frameset tubes have undergone a noticeable transformation, for example, giving the new bike the appearance of a beefed-up Pinarello Dogma F – the Italian brand’s flagship aero road bike.

That means deep, truncated aerofoil tube shapes throughout and distinctive Pinarello design touches, such as a kinked down tube and the slightly wavy fork.

The seatstays at the rear of the bike are also heavily dropped, likely to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of the bike.

As expected, the new time trial platform has fully integrated cable routing and uses road disc brakes. Both riders opted to use Princeton CarbonWorks front wheels (possibly the Princeton CarbonWorks 7580, or something even deeper and as yet unreleased) with full carbon disc wheels at the rear, and Continental GP5000S TR tyres.

The use of disc brakes means the fairings used to hide the Bolide’s integrated rim brakes have been abandoned.

Though the driveside end of the fork uses a small extension at the tip, like the Dogma F, it’s unclear if Pinarello has gone further in trying to hide the brake caliper on the non-driveside from the wind.

The new bike continues to be compatible with Pinarello’s MOST 3D printed titanium cockpit, although as these integrated handlebar setups are custom made for each rider and their specific time trial position, we expect stock bikes to ship with a more standard time trial cockpit that offers some degree of adjustability.

For the time being, though, we don’t know when this new bike will be available to consumers. We’ve asked Pinarello for more details and will update this article if we receive a response.

With the 2022 Tour de France just around the corner, though, and its opening time trial in Copenhagen, Denmark, could the reigning time trial world champion, Filippo Ganna, take the win and the race leader’s yellow jersey aboard this Bolide? It could be the ideal launch for the new bike, if so.

Simon von Bromley is a senior technical writer for BikeRadar.com. Simon joined BikeRadar in 2020, but has been riding bikes all his life, and racing road and time trial bikes for over a decade. As a person of little physical talent, he has a keen interest in any tech which can help him ride faster and is obsessed with the tiniest details. Simon writes reviews and features on power meters, smart trainers, aerodynamic bikes and kit, and nerdy topics like chain lubricants, tyres and pro bike tech. Simon also makes regular appearances on the BikeRadar Podcast and BikeRadar’s YouTube channel. Before joining BikeRadar, Simon was a freelance writer and photographer, with work published on BikeRadar.com, Cyclingnews.com and in CyclingPlus magazine. You can follow Simon on Twitter or Instagram.

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