Bianchi revealed some Oltre XR4 frames with customised hand-painted graphics prior to the Tour de France depart, and we got to ogle them up close at the Team LottoNL-Jumbo camp in La Roche-sur-Yon.
Review: Bianchi Oltre XR4
The bikes of the 2018 Tour de France — who's riding what
The frames are being ridden by Dylan Groenewegen – who won stage seven – and Primoz Roglic, and Groenewegen's features the Dutch Lion to reflect his heritage. The triple 'X' on the top tube is the historical symbol of his hometown of Amsterdam, not some sort of adult content reference as we pondered when we first spotted it.
The Roglic frame is decorated with an eagle flying over the Col du Galibier, a reference to when he 'flew' away from his breakaway group on Stage 17 of last year's Tour de France. The top tube's icon is a depiction of his 'telemark move', which the Slovenian performs during podium celebrations in tribute to his former career as a ski jumper.
Bianchi say the frames will also be available to buy too; we'll keep our eyes peeled...
After cobbling together a few hundred quid during his student days off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story), Jack bought his first road bike at the age of 20 and has been hooked ever since. He joined road.cc in 2017, having previously worked for 220 Triathlon magazine. Jack's preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking (the latter being another long story), and on Sunday afternoons he can often be found on an M5 service station indulging in his favourite post-race meal of 20 chicken nuggets, a sausage roll, caramel shortbread and a large strawberry milkshake.