Check out Mark Cavendish’s 2023 Wilier Filante SLR: the Manx Missile’s masterpiece on two wheels

Mark Cavendish has a new book out called Believe: Achieving the Impossible – How cycling’s greatest sprinter made history at the Tour de France – and he’s currently working hard to promote it, so we thought that now would be a good time to look back at one of the best-looking bikes of the Manxman’s career.

Cav switched from Deceuninck-Quick-Step to Astana Qazaqstan at the start of 2023, and here’s the Wilier Filante SLR that he rode that season before switching to a custom model for the Tour de France. At the time, he was tied with the great Eddy Merckx for the record number of Tour de France stage wins – 34.

As we all now know, Cav didn’t take the record for himself outright in 2023, which was scheduled to be his final year of racing. He won the final stage of the Giro d’Italia that year and placed second on Stage 7 of the Tour, but fell and abandoned the race the following day. Of course, Cav eventually delayed his retirement and made it to 35 Tour de France stage wins the following season – again on a Wilier Filante SLR.

What’s so special about the 2023 bike? We think that it’s a thing of beauty. Wilier has just introduced the Filante SLR ID2, calling it “a new benchmark” in terms of performance, but the 2023 Astana bikes take some beating in terms of all-round gorgeousness.

> Wilier ups the aero with Filante SLR ID2: “It’s a new benchmark”

Pic: Mark Cavendish at Tirreno Adriatico 2023 © Zac Williams-SWpix.com

“This bike is designed for flat and sprint stages, perfect to support the Manx Missile’s seasonal (and career) goals,” said Wilier.

The aero Filante was unveiled towards the end of 2020 and introduced in Wilier’s 2021 range. It was – and remains – a disc brake bike for electronic groupsets only, and Wilier claimed a frame weight of just 870g and 360g for the fork.

Wilier used truncated NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) airfoils as the basis for Filante SLR’s tube profiles, as it did for its Cento10Pro previously. The difference, though, was in the cutoff at the rear of the tube. Whereas the rear of the Cento10Pro’s tube was square, Wilier designed a more rounded cut on the Filante with the aim of making the boundary layer – the air particles closest to the frame – stick more to the profile in real-world conditions to reduce drag.

Wilier also widened the fork legs on the Filante to reduce turbulence and to hide the rear triangle when viewed from the front. Again, the idea was to minimise drag.

Astana Qazaqstan gave its Filante SLR aero road bike – along with its Zero SLR lightweight bike – a ‘chrome-plated graphite’ makeover for 2023, using “a sophisticated hand-painting process”.

The Filante didn’t just look gorgeous; it performed superbly out on the road. In our review, we praised it as a “lightweight aero road bike that offers a reactive performance, quick handling, and a surprisingly comfortable ride.”

Weight is far from everything, especially when it comes to an aero road bike, but our XL test model tipped the scales just north of 7kg. 

> Check out our Wilier Filante SLR review here 

Like the majority of the pro peloton, then and now, Astana-Qazaqstan riders used Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupsets.

However, Astana bikes were fitted with SLF Motion Speed System pulleys on the rear derailleur designed to reduce drivetrain friction. They used carbon fibre cages and a combination of 14-tooth and 18-tooth pulley wheels. SLF also provided the bottom bracket.

> Read our Shimano Dura-Ace groupset review 

The wheels come from French brand Corima, the model depending on the terrain and conditions.

Here’s the complete spec list for Mark Cavendish’s 2023 Wilier Filante SLR:

Frame Filante SLR – Carbon monocoque HUS Mod + Crystal Liquid Polymer
Fork Filante SLR – Carbon monocoque HUS Mod + Crystal Liquid Polymer
Handlebar Filante Bar Integrated Carbon
Seatpost Filante SLR Carbon, Wilier Custom Made
Groupset Shimano Dura Ace Di2 9270 12S
Wheels Corima 47WS Black
Headset FSA
Shifters Shimano Dura Ace Di2 ST-R9270
Brakes Shimano Dura Ace BR-R9270
Rotors Shimano Dura Ace RT-MT900 CENTER LOCK 160 / 140
Front derailleur Shimano Dura Ace Di2 FD-R9250
Rear derailleur Shimano Dura Ace Di2 RD-R9250
Pulley SLF Motion Speed System
Chainset Shimano Dura Ace FC-R9200 + Shimano Powermeter
Bottom bracket SLF Motion BB86
Cassette Shimano Dura Ace CS-R9200 12S
Chain Shimano Dura Ace CN-M9100 12S
Tyres Vittoria Corsa Speed 700×28
Saddle Prologo Scratch 2
Bar tape Prologo
Bottle cage Tacx
Pedals Look KEO Blade carbon

Check out loads more Bikes at Bedtime here.