Bikes of the UCI WorldTour 2012: Kuota KOM Evo of AG2R-La Mondiale

For this third season of working with the French AG2R-La Mondiale financial-services sponsored WorldTour team, the Italian Kuota bike company is taking a steady-as-she-goes approach with the carrying over of the KOM Evo model that was tweaked for lower weight and BB30/rear stays/headtube profiles at the beginning of this season just over.

Who knows if there's anything new coming in 2012 for this King Of the Mountains range topper; almost inevitably, but the Italians tend to time their big product announcements for the Giro d'Italia coming up in May. One thing we know for sure because they're driving us nuts with a daily burlesque of cheeky peeks is that SRAM's Red groupset will be different to the one shown in our official shot here. The chainset is going chunkier with the fifth chainring bolt behind the crank arm for an increase in overall stiffness while the groupset is getting lighter. That's a February launch, we're told, so that may not be debuting along with the rest of the 2012 WorldTour circus at the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia late next month.

At a fraction over 1,000 grams the Kuota frame won't be the lightest in the peloton but then again at £2,275 it's achievably priced for anyone that's committed enough and privateers tend to want their frames to last if they're buying them with their own hard-earned cash. The 'team replica' stealthy black colour scheme will be as rare as hens' teeth in this country because the bang-on-trend white has been a much bigger seller, according to the UK importer DHW Agencies.

Details: www.kuota.co.uk