An as-yet-unannounced Cervelo R5 lightweight climbing bike has been spotted ahead of the Tour de France. This size large, belonging to American Matteo Jorgensen, weighs in bang on the UCI’s 6.8kg minimum weight limit.

Hot on the heels of its brand new S5 aero race bike, Cervelo has been busy shaving weight from its R5, with the bike first appearing at the Criterium du Dauphine under Sepp Kuss. 

Given the skinny tubes and focus on weight, this is the bike which riders like Jonas Vingegaard will be opting for in the all-important mountains.

Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5-10
Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5-10 (Image Credit: Liam Cahill)

Key changes

With 2025’s Tour de France route being a game of two halves this year, the new R5 is unlikely to see much action until the race reaches the mountains on stage 12. Before that, aero bikes will likely dominate.

But when the mountains loom into view, the riders will quickly turn to their lighter setups and it was for these stages that the R5 has been updated.

Cervelo told us that Jorgensen’s size large bike hits the UCI’s minimum weight limit of 6.8kg in its race-ready guise. That is to say, including bottle cages, pedals and a bike computer mount.

In the case of smaller sizes, such as the 51cm model Jonas Vingegaard rides, the Visma Lease a Bike mechanics will be adding over 300g to the bottom bracket to bring the bike up to the minimum weight.

Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5 - bar
Speaking to Cervelo, they said their male riders should all be compliant with the UCI's tech rule changes next year. (Image Credit: Liam Cahill)

To achieve this, Cervelo pointed out a number of changes that have been made, starting with a new one-piece cockpit.

Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5 - cockpit
Jorgensen's position is aesthetic excellence. But this integrated bar and stem is all about saving some weight and drag reduction. (Image Credit: Liam Cahill)

The carbon combo replaces the old R5’s two-piece FSA system, though it is still a slim design for weight saving. How much weight has been saved here, Cervelo didn’t say.

Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5 - stem clamp
More weight saving can be found with the titanium stem clamp (Image Credit: Liam Cahill)

The stem clamp area has been treated to some titanium fixings.

Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5 - brake mount
Cervelo redesigned the front fork's break mount to save weight (Image Credit: Liam Cahill)

Cervelo has also looked at the front brake mount on the fork, switching to a design where the bolts go straight through the lower fork leg. It’s a solution which reminds me of the Open MIN.D, a lightweight disc brake bike that was well ahead of its time.

Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5 - saddle rails
And even more weight weenie action can be seen with the saddle clamp. This design was also used on the new S5. (Image Credit: Liam Cahill)

While tricky to spot, the seatpost has been fully revised and there is a new, lighter saddle rail clamp visible under Jorgensen’s Prologo saddle.

Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5 - Seatpost clamp
Cervelo redesigned the seatpost for this new R5. And the result is a bike that sits, as you see it, at 6.8kg. Clever stuff. (Image Credit: Liam Cahill)

Move to the seat stays and their skinniness is noticeable. Across the frameset, Cervelo says that it has chopped away excess material.

Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5 - headtube
Some material was lost from just behind the fork crown. But while bikes like Specialized's Aethos go full round tube to save weight, the R5 is still a race bike, so Cervelo have still considered aero. (Image Credit: Liam Cahill)

This is also apparent at the fork crown, where Cervelo says it got rid of one of the old R5’s ‘design language’ features. 

Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5 - Dropout
Cervelo even went to the trouble of designing its own UDH dropout. You guess it. It saves weight. (Image Credit: Liam Cahill)

Build

Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5 - rear end
The super skinny rear stays are all about comfort and weight. (Image Credit: Liam Cahill)

Jorgensen’s 58cm R5 was ready for racing with Reserve’s 42/49 tubeless wheelset paired with Vittoria Corsa Pro.

Given the 25.4mm Front and 24.8mm Rear inner rim width, the 29mm Wide Rim Optimised version of the tyres has been used, likely to comply with the current UCI technical regulations.

Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5 - chainrings
These chainrings, however, are a sizable 54/41T combo. Note also the waxed chain. (Image Credit: Liam Cahill)

Jorgensen’s bike featured Sram’s Red AXS groupset with 54/41T chainrings and a 10-36T cassette. And no ‘optimised’ race bike would be complete without a waxed chain.

Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5 - cranks
Despite being a very tall boy, Jorgensen opts for 165mm cranks. (Image Credit: Liam Cahill)

A quick look at the American’s cranks show he’s on 165mm, which is tiny given his tall stature.

Matteo Jorgensen's Cervelo R5 - computer
This Garmin Edge 130 just looks cute compared to the phone-size cycling computers we're used to seeing. Weight will be a factor, but Jorgensen probably only needs his vital data anyway. (Image Credit: Liam Cahill)

At the front end, an almost comically small Garmin Edge 130 is ready to display his data. If it ain’t broke…