As the premium warm-up race for the Tour de France, the Critérium du Dauphiné tends to be the spot for riders to test their legs on French roads, and it tends to be the first place teams unleash brand new bikes before they’re officially launched around the Tour’s Grand Départ.
This year the most high profile of those – although certainly not the most talked about – was Visma-Lease a Bike’s new Cervélo S5. The brand has thus far been tight lipped about the new model’s details, and it generally looks similar to the previous one, however with Jonas Vingegaard and co. riding the aero bike on the Dauphiné’s high mountain stages, it’s safe to assume that it’s much lighter than its predecessor and can probably now be classed as an all-round road race bike. Does that mean it’s bye-bye R5?
Photographer Xavier Pereyron got a closer look at the details…
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Xavier Pereyron
Spot the difference with the previous model. There have been plenty of tweaks including a much beefier fork.
Xavier Pereyron
The most noticeable difference is probably the bar, which has been given a kink in the centre, creating a bigger hole like the Trek Madone‘s rear IsoFlow.
Xavier Pereyron
Unlike the Colnago Y1Rs there’s no issue with adding a mount.
Hopefully the wind tunnel testing included a bike computer.
Xavier Pereyron
Ant’s eye view.
Xavier Pereyron
It’s a sizeable lift up from the headset.
Xavier Pereyron
Xavier Pereyron
They’ve coupled the new bike with Vittoria’s new (ish, they came out in March) 29mm Corsa Pro tyres, which are designed specifically for wider rims for an extra aero boost.
Xavier Pereyron
Xavier Pereyron
For those interested in Vingegaard’s saddle height.
Xavier Pereyron
Full sponsor-correct SRAM Red.
Xavier Pereyron
Very chunky bottom bracket junction.
Xavier Pereyron
Xavier Pereyron
Yes, it wasn’t just Pogačar testing out Visma’s TT bike. Maxim Van Gils was clearly interested in the new S5’s weight, and he was certainly not saying it feels heavy.