Team Sunweb has today revealed it will be rolling out on disc brakes at the cobbled classics, starting with the Dwars door Vlaanderen today.
The team is sponsored by Giant and so will ride the bike company’s Defy Advanced SL Disc. The Defy was completely revamped in 2014 with a complete disc brake focus - there is no rim brake version - so it’s either disc brakes or use an older Defy if the team wants to use the dedicated endurance bike with its increased tyre clearance for the spring classics.
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As well as accommodating bigger tyres, the Defy also provides a more compliant ride through the use of a special carbon fibre layup and careful tube shape The most notable feature is the integrated D-Fuse seatmast which allows the saddle to move back and forth under impacts. The geometry is more upright than the TCR Advanced so we see the fitting of negative rise stems to replicate the slammed position that racers generally prefer.
Shimano’s brand new Dura-Ace R9170 Di2 groupset with the latest generation hydraulic disc brakes will be used for the first time in the professional peloton.
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It’s the Japanese company’s first dedicated Dura-Ace level disc brake groupset, and heralds a number of changes, including lower weight and dedicated Dura-Ace rotors that bring better heat management properties, and a claimed “30°c reduction in rotor temperature over Shimano’s ICE Technologies Freeza rotors,” according to the company. The spare bike above shows a regular disc rotor, whilst the photos of the bike Matthews will race shows the newer rotors.
Our Mat got to ride the new groupset and disc brakes and you can read his first impressions here.
The team is also pairing the new Dura-Ace 40mm carbon fibre rims with the disc brakes but the simple Shimano sticker differs from the production versions Shimano unveiled at its launch last year, so could they be something different, or just pre-production samples.
"We chose this setup, with the disc brakes, for the upcoming cobblestone classics because we believe they will offer us a competitive advantage," said Tom Davids, Team Sunweb's R&D expert speaking to Cyclingnews today.
Aussie sprinter Michael Matthews will be hoping for some good results in the races that suit his strengths, and he’ll apparently be riding disc brakes. Though he hasn’t raced with disc brakes yet, he has been using them in training and it sounds like he’s impressed with the braking performance and sees disc brakes as the natural evolution of cycle racing.
"The braking is really amazing," Matthews said speaking to Cyclingnews. ”It really feels like a mountain bike and I love the braking on mountain bikes. It's not too much and it's not too little; it's really the perfect balance of braking.”
"I haven't actually raced with them yet, but from what I've felt in training and seen on TV with other people racing, I can't see anything wrong with them. It's the evolution of cycling, we need to move forward with something and, looking at this bike right now, it's the evolution of cycling. It looks beautiful and to ride it's also really nice."
- Have disc brakes really led to injuries in peloton?
We'll be paying particular attention to the Dwars door Vlaanderen race today to see how the team gets on.
Photos © Team Sunweb
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12 comments
I don't understand how they do the extra bikes in case of mechanicals?
the seat posts are cut specifically for the rider.
whats happens if a tall rider scraps two bikes?
He gets a smaller (spare) bike...but unfortunately has to forfeit his feet (amputated by aforementioned deadly disk rotors) as the team mechanic does the sticky bottle/cleat/bolt attachment to leg stump interface whilst getting him back into the peloton...
Always liked those Defys. Love they want they sit, like an alert dog ready to go
Funny how I prefer endurance geometry to traditional geometry. Must be in the bottom 1% of riders that way
RIP Team Sunweb
@Grahamd - agreed, this could literally destroy cycling as we know it. Mark my words, it will be worse than the derailleur crisis of 1937.
They will have to give TV coverage an 18 rating and only show after the watershed to stop the young from being traumatised.
Hope they've got trauma teams ready to reattach the piles of limbs that will inevitably result from this carnage. At least the wounds will be auto-cauterised by the red-hot metal.
The evil, spinning, red-hot discs of death!
I notice whomever is the "Carlton Kirby lite" lead commentator on Eurosport form the Dwaars had a dig at disc brakes and then immediately distanced himself from them being controversial at all.
Something about them being hard to swap wheels in the event of a puncture... I suppose it's an advance on "they'll have someone's arm/leg off"
Those brakes dont appear to be the next gen Dura Ace ones, more likely the RS685 with Ice Tech rotors. The Dura Ace rotors look quite different to this.
Scrub that, we have a mixed message here, the ones on the car roof have old style, but Matthews bike he is leaning against does seem to have the new tech
Get your disc brake news bingo cards ready...