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TECH NEWS

2015 WorldTour bikes: Peter Sagan’s Specialized Venge

A first look at Peter Sagan's new Specialized Venge with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 and Roval wheels

After several years aboard a Cannondale, Peter Sagan has switched to Specialized with his move to the Tinkoff-Saxo team this season. Photos released by the team show Sagan riding a Venge, the company’s aero road bike as favoured by sprinters such as Mark Cavendish.

Tinkoff-Saxo are sticking with Specialized for another year, but as we reported recently, they have some new equipment suppliers. Out goes SRAM to be replaced by Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupsets with FSA, who also supply handlebars, stems and seatposts, providing K-Force cranksets. Also gone are Zipp wheels, they've been replaced by Specialized’s own Roval wheels with S-Works Turbo tyres.

Most of the Tinkoff-Saxo team, including team leader Alberto Contador, will choose to ride the latest iteration of the Tarmac. Each size that the new Tarmac is sold in has been developed independently, brought about by a feedback from Contador himself who felt that the rear-end of the 52cm frame he favours was too stiff, hampering handling and performance through corners. There are other, more immediately obvious changes, such as the integrated seat clamp. A disc version of the Tarmac was also developed simultaneously, and road.cc recently tested the range-topping S-Works model.

The Venge that we reckon Peter Sagan will ride for much of the season (though he’ll swap to the Roubaix for its smoother ride and bigger tyre capacity for the spring Classics he’ll very likely be targeting this year) was first launched in 2011 and has become the default choice for sprinters and breakaway specialists.

When we visited Specialized UK recently to view the 2015 range of bikes, there was no sign of an updated Venge, but given it has been around for a few years and aerodynamics is a field of bicycle design that has advanced greatly over the past few years, could there be a new model coming along this year? We’ll have to wait and see.

Equipment changes aside, there is also a new paint job. Last year they had a yellow/blue/black combination, this year it looks like they’ve dropped the blue and gone with a black and yellow combination, with yellow S-Works decals on the down tube and a stripe running along the fork and lower half of the top tube. There are colour matched parts from FSA and Prologo as well.

While Sagan has been riding a team edition frame at the early season training camp these photos were taken it, it’s highly likely he’ll be riding a custom painted frame at some of the bigger races, a custom he has become used to with various bespoked Cannondale bikes over the years. While Sagan has been riding a team edition frame at the early season training camp these photos were taken it, it’s highly likely he’ll be riding a custom painted frame at some of the bigger races, a custom he has become used to with various bespoke Cannondale bikes over the years.

Another change for Peter Sagan this year is the change of footwear. He was riding Sidi shoes and Speedplay pedals the last couple of years, but he has been wearing Specialized S-Works shoes and using Look Keo clipless pedals (an official sponsor of the team) at the early season training camp. An interesting change because pros, like mere mortals, can be quite fussy which clipless pedal system they use, and is often a specification divorced from sponsorship pressures.

Other details, that Peter Sagan is used to, includes the SRM Powermeters. He’ll have to get used to a new saddle, switching from Fizik to Prologo.

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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12 comments

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CarlosFerreiro | 9 years ago
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Reach numbers for the Tarmac
52cm - 386mm
54cm - 387mm
56cm - 395mm

Purely on reach the different sizes can fit the same with a just a 9mm change in stem length. Stack and the "look" of the fit/bike setup change more with the different frames though.

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surly_by_name | 9 years ago
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Pros choice of small frames dictated by perceived weight saving, perceived improved stiffness but mostly fact that smaller sizes have shorter head tube = more aero position. Pros are more flexible than (most of) us. Reach issue solved by comparatively long (150mm in some cases - they tend to be a special order item) stem, although I'd be mildy concerned about what this woudl do to steering.

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Jimmy Ray Will | 9 years ago
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Knowing the mindset of the 'pros', I'd suggest that its got nothing to do with optimum sizing, and everything to do with ego... a 130mm stem, slammed to the headset cap is soooo pro, and makes them feel powerful.

Ok, I'll also admit that its a bit lighter to... that helps.

That's not a problem however as they have the body to do it... its when the weekend warrior looks to emulate their heroes, and instead of slammed 130mm stems, they have 40mm of spacing under it, and the saddle rammed forward to accomodate such a long stem.

Personally I've always been brought up to believe that a 110/120mm stem will provide the best balance and handling on a bike (assuming your weight distribution is correlated with that) which is what I've always aimed for.

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fukawitribe replied to Jimmy Ray Will | 9 years ago
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Jimmy Ray Will wrote:

Knowing the mindset of the 'pros', I'd suggest that its got nothing to do with optimum sizing, and everything to do with ego... a 130mm stem, slammed to the headset cap is soooo pro, and makes them feel powerful.

Do you ? Know their mindset that is. Genuine question.

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clayfit | 9 years ago
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I agree wholeheartedly with jacknorell: it seems to me that recommendations for bike sizing for consumers are still for frames that are too big and often too long. I think the bike companies need to help their retailers with more uptodate recommendations.

There has been a gradual change to smaller sizes over the last 40 years (look at old pictures of pros) with more and more seatpost showing. Anyone have any idea why this is?

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Masterchief replied to clayfit | 9 years ago
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clayfit wrote:

with more and more seatpost showing.

Sloping top tubes, man.

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Kadinkski | 9 years ago
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I think some pros prefer them sized like that because they feel they can 'boss' the bike more.

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manmachine | 9 years ago
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Very true. I have never heard or read any pro rider or team say why they really ride smaller frames than would be typically recommended based on inseam, height, reach, etc. (Like for the rest of us duffers)

Okay, so there is less weight to the smaller frames. Would that equate to less mass as well? (I'm assuming that less weight would mean less material or matter) If so, less mass would equal less resistance and in theory, allow the smaller frame to accelerate a fraction quicker. I'm just throwing out some guesses here...It would interesting to get an engineers pov...

Perhaps they think a smaller frame would also cut through the air more efficiently? (not that it seems like a credible notion) although I guess it could be a relation to the mass/resistance factors.

I could see the weight difference on smaller frames being somewhat of a factor on climbs and-or climbing stages. Or is it simply esthetics? Could it really be down to just that?  39 Me wonders...

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goggy | 9 years ago
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As usual these guys seem to ride bikes waaaay to small for them. Look at that first photo!

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jacknorell replied to goggy | 9 years ago
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goggy wrote:

As usual these guys seem to ride bikes waaaay to small for them. Look at that first photo!

If the pro riders are using bikes that seem too small to you, hasn't it crossed your mind maybe your bike's a bit too big?

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giobox replied to jacknorell | 9 years ago
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jacknorell wrote:
goggy wrote:

As usual these guys seem to ride bikes waaaay to small for them. Look at that first photo!

If the pro riders are using bikes that seem too small to you, hasn't it crossed your mind maybe your bike's a bit too big?

Pro riders riding a frame size too small is very common. As others have pointed out, good chance ego plays its part, massive stems with silly degree negative rise often attracts hero worshiping attention from bike mags and blogs. Weight is probably not really an issue, given almost all pro bikes are built to the 6.8kg limit anyway.

Cav switched from a 52 to a 49cm, arguably significantly too small for a 5ft 8 inch man.

"He just made this change on his own," Madsen said. "The reason he gave was that he liked the feeling; no real reasoning behind it."

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unclebadger replied to goggy | 9 years ago
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Smaller Frame = less materials = marginal gains.

I always go or smaller frames on the MTB as well for the same reason and also so as not to bollocate yourself in a crash-just sayin!

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