Could this be a Trek Domane frameset painted yellow and ready to rock just in case Trek Factory Racing’s Fabian Cancellara took the overall lead in the Tour de France, as he has done following a third place finish in the second stage?
We were in Utrecht, Netherlands, towards the end of last week to check out the bikes and equipment that the pros will be using in this year’s Tour de France. We were mooching about – we do a lot of mooching about – around the Trek Factory Racing bikes when we spotted this yellow frame all bubble wrapped-up in the back of one of the team vehicles.
Take a closer look and it appears to be a Trek Domane. We think. It’s kind of difficult to tell. We don’t think it’s an Emonda or one of the new Madones, and it’s certainly not a Speed Concept.
Anyway, no sooner had we spotted it than the nice man from Trek Factory Racing stuck it under his arm and went and squirrelled it away somewhere out of the gaze of prying eyes, so that’s the last we saw of it.
Our guess is that this is a Domane that was sprayed up and ready to go just in case Spartacus took the yellow jersey – as he now has.
The team bikes are painted at Trek HQ in Waterloo, Wisconsin, and knocking up a special paint job in the US and having the frame ready to go the following morning would be out of the question. Like the Scouts, it looks like Trek was prepared for one of its riders to take the race lead.
22 thoughts on “Tour de France Bikes 2015: A yellow Trek for Fabian Cancellara?”
Isn’t there a UCI rule about
Isn’t there a UCI rule about this? I thought these yellow framesets were supposed to be hand-painted by the guys at the factory working overnight, then rushed off and driven across Europe to arrive and be built up by team mechanics in the hours before the next stage start.
DavidC wrote:Isn’t there a
Some of them are – Merckx did a video about painting up bikes for various jersey winners a few years back, but maybe they were slightly caught by surprise. Mostly though these frames are there ready and hidden away in hotel bedrooms or the boot’s of the team liaison guy’s car. Just in case their star rider has the chance of a sniff at yellow. No doubt there is a bit of rushing about involved if the guy on the team who gets in to yellow isn’t the star guy – or maybe he just doesn’t get a yellow bike!
Pick it up on Ebay on
Pick it up on Ebay on Saturday night. 👿
Matt_S wrote:Pick it up on
Looking likely now.
It’s not exactly scoop of the
It’s not exactly scoop of the year is it?
Team with potential yellow jersey wearer bring yellow bike to Tour… in other news, some really obvious things happened…
I can’t wait for the rest of your Tour commentary.
crikey wrote:It’s not exactly
And we all look forward to your bilious meta commentary.
crikey wrote:It’s not exactly
are we only allowed to post stories if they *are* scoop of the year? because there won’t really be a lot to read. perhaps you can clarify.
I think you’ll fine there
I think you’ll fine there will be two of these bikes in the Trek set up, Cancellara sized and also a Mollema sized one, although they ride almost the same size, although as you have noted, Cancellara prefers one frame over another
I wonder what happens to the
I wonder what happens to the unused yellow frames? it’s not like we will see it on ebay. maybe the manufacturers just store them in a warehouse somewhere.
pants wrote:I wonder what
If not needed (though this one is now!) they are probably just resprayed into team colours
Plus, Cancellara has a decent
Plus, Cancellara has a decent chance of gaining yellow on a differnt day in the first week if he narrowly misses out in the prologue.
If he doesn’t fall foul of the wind on stage 2, then stage 4 will be catching his eye as an opportunity for a stage win and possibly yellow.
By ‘eck, that would be big
By ‘eck, that would be big news: Cancellara wins time trial and team magically has yellow bike ready for the start of the next day’s stage. Unfortunately for Trek I think Tony Martin may have a yellow Specialized ready to roll.
Looking forward to 3 weeks of fun!
Stop press: Yellow Dogma
Stop press: Yellow Dogma spotted in the bowels of the Death Star.
More news: Oleg Tinkoff buys
More news: Oleg Tinkoff buys bottle of yellow hair dye, but keeps the receipt just in case he doesn’t need it.
Looks like he needs it now!!!
Looks like he needs it now!!! 😀
Well it might still be on
Well it might still be on ebay by Wednesday, and cheaper too, only one careful owner.
Opaque bubble wrap might have
Opaque bubble wrap might have been a better idea.
Although having a yellow
Although having a yellow Domane (that’s what this one is) already at the Tour seems like a no brainer, we have actually done the overnight rush jobs in the past, believe it or not.
The cost of last minute air freight is a bit pricey, though. So having one already in the fleet just in case is the better option.
Saying ‘it’s not exactly
Saying ‘it’s not exactly scoop of the year’ doesn’t mean the same as ‘everything you post must be a scoop’, but you knew that.
You’re at the Tour, you’ve done all that mooching about, and you’ve seen a yellow bike wrapped up in bubblewrap. It would be the perfect intro to an article about the rise of use of yellow kit for the Tour leader, or the job of deciding what yellow kit to take, or the thoughts of the mechanics who have to build up coloured bikes, or a look at the chances for Cancellara to get yellow.
It could have been a better piece than ‘yellow bike in a truck’.
(I know it’s easy for me to say; I’m not there and journalist is not my job, but in the almost overwhelming amount of Tour journalism available it would be good to see something else.)
http://www.trekfactoryracing.
http://www.trekfactoryracing.com/blog/yellow-domane-cancellara
Zwift has teamed up with Trek
Zwift has teamed up with Trek to allow you to ride the celebratory Yellow Madone on Zwift Island, and win a Trek factory racing bottle for every day Fabian remains in yellow!
http://www.titaniumgeek.com/cycling/cancellara-zwift-trek-team-up/
Last time it was seen was
Last time it was seen was flying through the air after that crash on stage 3. Bloody hell.