We reported last month on the news that top sprinter Marcel Kittel had signed a two-year deal with Etixx-Quick Step for the 2016 season. This means a change of bike and equipment for the German, swapping from Giant to Specialized.
- Marcel Kittel signs for Etixx-Quick Step
And it looks like he has been getting familiar with a Specialized bike ahead of the 1st January when his contract properly starts. He posted a photo of a very brightly painted Crux cyclocross bike, with hydraulic disc brakes, on Instagram yesterday.
;
It’s not uncommon for professional road racing cyclists to take to cyclocross and mountain bikes through the winter. It provides a change from grinding out the miles on the road and is good for bike handling skills and a good all round workout.
The pink paint job doesn’t appear to belong to a current 2016 Crux, so we’ll presume it’s a custom painted bike specially prepared for Kittel. It looks well appointed, with Roval carbon fibre wheels, Dura-Ace Di2 and an FSA carbon fibre chainset.
- Review: Specialized Crux Elite X1
The choice of disc brakes over traditional cantilever brakes has been taken out of his hands though, Specialized only offers the Crux with disc brakes in 2016, deciding that is clearly the way the cyclocross market, and demand, is going.
We spotted Team Sky’s Ben Swift also taking to disc brakes earlier this week, using Pinarello’s new Dogma F8 Disc on his first training ride of the off-season.
- Ben Swift gets back to training, on a disc-equipped Pinarello
The small frame, the aggressive posture, lots of standover height.
As i've said before, the police should be sued for a lot of money when someone they have knowingly ignored has gone on to commit a serious crime....
'Bad parking' blocks firefighters multiple times on same emergency call-out...
Cambridgeshire boy, 13, crashes Audi into garden wall after taking it from home...
Good stuff. Now do it on cycleway C9 through Hammersmith to Chiswick.
It's technically allowed but it's not known as "London's Orbital Car Park" for nothing.
You're defending bombing hospitals and refugee camps and starving children.
Used car salesman is a complete attention-seeking plank....
I don't know if they're any better, but they's certainly become more boring.
At risk of being cynical, and stereotyping the police, it's so they don't have to leave the comfort of their panda cars and pursue on foot when...