If you were a student in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it’s possible that like many of us at road.cc, you’d have tuned into ITV on a Sunday afternoon to catch the cult darts-based quiz show, Bullseye (before younger readers start laughing, we only had four channels back then and streaming was what your eyes did when Bambi’s mother died in the film).
Besides “You can’t beat a bit of Bully” and “Stay out of the black and into the red, nothing in this game for two in a bed,” a catchphrase of host Jim Bowen when a contestant failed to do enough to secure the star prize – often a speedboat, as parodied on social media during the recent flooding in Yorkshire – was “Let’s take a look at what you could have won.”
It was in a rainy and in some places flooded Yorkshire, of course that Rohan Dennis retained his men’s elite time trial title at the UCI road cycling world championships in September – and he did so not on a bike provided by the sponsor of his then Bahrain-Merida team, but on a BMC Time Machine, the same model he had ridden 12 months previously to his first rainbow jersey in the discipline.
Unsurprisingly, the Australian and his team parted company a couple of weeks later – although his departure had been widely anticipated ever since he abandoned the Tour de France midway through a stage in the Pyrenees the day before an individual time trial stage that he was one of the favourites to win after rows over the bike and kit he was expected to use.
Dennis resurfaced this week when it was confirmed that he was joining Team Ineos, their innovative approach to time trialling being a big part of the attraction for him; the fact he was presented as a new recruit in a world champion’s skinsuit and with a Pinarello Bolide adorned with the rainbow bands tells you that the deal had been concluded some time before it was officially announced.
All of which is a very long-winded way of saying that today, Merida has today unveiled the Time Warp time trial bike that Bahrain-McLaren’s riders will be racing on against the clock next year.
In the words of Jim Bowen, “So, Rohan, let’s take a look at what you could have won” – or rather, could have been riding next year.
A speedboat it isn’t; a speedbike? We’ll find out in 2020.
7 thoughts on “‘So, Rohan, let’s take a look at what you could have ridden’ – Merida unveils Bahrain-McLaren’s new TT bike”
Is that all they gave us ?
Is that all they gave us ? Three half glimpses ? Pah.
You can see the lack of
You can see the lack of attention to detail that Dennis supposidely had a problem with. Look at the tri bars in the front shot – they are off to one side when viewed against the seatpost. How hard would it have been to get them straight?
joules1975 wrote:
Bahrain-Merida mechanics don’t set up the bikes for Merida ads
Jackson wrote:
It’s a mindset thing. A culture, if you like. The mechanics setting up the bikes might have it, but my point, while kind of a joke, is that if they are missing that attention to detial in the marketing shots, it would add to the suggestions that it’s missing as a culture within the team and bicycle brand.
joules1975 wrote:
I think that the camera lens playing tricks the tri bars look centred on the handlebar
Mybike wrote:
You can see the lack of attention to detail that Dennis supposidely had a problem with. Look at the tri bars in the front shot – they are off to one side when viewed against the seatpost. How hard would it have been to get them straight?
— Mybike I think that the camera lens playing tricks the tri bars look centred on the handlebar— joules1975
tri-bars are centered, but the steering is off to one side
Dennis had his contract
Dennis had his contract cancelled before the worlds, not because of the BMC thing.