{"id":312273,"date":"2025-08-02T15:46:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T15:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/312273\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T15:46:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T15:46:26","slug":"what-killed-the-climbing-bike-simply-the-sheer-speed-of-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/312273\/","title":{"rendered":"What killed the climbing bike? Simply the sheer speed of racing\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tadej Poga\u010dar won the 2025 Tour de France using, almost exclusively, an aero bike. Second-place finisher Jonas Vingegaard chose Cerv\u00e9lo\u2019s aero bike, the S5, for every single road stage of the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite having super-lightweight bikes available, pro cyclists are favouring their sponsors’ aero bikes, even on mountainous stages.<\/p>\n

Why is this? How much difference does it make? What does it mean for pro cycling? Should we all throw our lightweight bikes in the bin?\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on?
\n\"TadejThis is the aero weapon on which Poga\u010dar took his fourth Tour title. Simon von Bromley \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

Tadej Poga\u010dar won four stages of this year\u2019s race. Aside from stage 4 into Rouen \u2013 a lumpy stage with a draggy uphill sprint finish \u2013 his other wins were all uphill finishes, in M\u00fbr-de-Bretagne, up the Hautacam, and the mountain time trial up Peyragudes.<\/p>\n

For all of these stages, Poga\u010dar used the Colnago Y1Rs<\/a> \u2013 an unashamed, no-holds-barred, flat-out aero bike.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We know he had a lightweight Colnago V5Rs<\/a> available to him, which can easily hit the 6.8kg UCI weight limit, but instead favoured the heavier (we weighed his standard Y1Rs build at just over 7.5kg) model for pretty much every stage of the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SimonPoga\u010dar had a lightweight V5Rs ready to use… but he didn’t. Kyle Dewick \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

We saw UAE Emirates-XRG wheel out a special black frameset stripped of the pearlescent white paint for the mountain time trial (which Poga\u010dar also ran with lighter wheels and no bar tape to save even more weight).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although he used this bike for the rest of the race in the brutal, mountainous third week, it would likely still have been a few hundred grams heavier than his V5Rs, owing to the deeper tubes and more aerodynamic cockpit.<\/p>\n

\u2018But Poga\u010dar could win on any bike!\u2019
\n\"TourPoga\u010dar wasn’t alone in opting for an aero bike throughout the race. Tim de Waele\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t only Poga\u010dar who stuck to an aero bike. Let\u2019s face it, he\u2019s the best bike rider in the world \u2013 maybe even of all time \u2013 and he could probably win on a Brompton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vingegaard used Cerv\u00e9lo\u2019s S5<\/a> for every road stage. We weighed his 51cm bike at the Grand Depart in Lille at 7.3kg with a 1x drivetrain, deep-section Reserve wheels, a bike computer and empty bidons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vingegaard used a variety of wheel depths and drivetrains throughout the race, so the weight was probably a touch lighter in the mountains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MatteoMatteo Jorgenson gave the unreleased R5 a few spins. Simon von Bromley \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

But, given that the new Cerv\u00e9lo R5 Matteo Jorgenson<\/a> chose to use on a few stages weighed in at only 7.03kg in a size 58 (again with a computer and empty bidons), a 51cm-framed R5 would almost certainly be lighter than the S5 Vingegaard was riding.<\/p>\n

The Dane didn\u2019t win a stage this year, and was bettered by Pogacar on all but one of the uphill finishes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, his Visma-Lease a Bike teammate, Simon Yates, won the very hilly stage 10, which included eight categorised climbs and finished up the second-category Mont-Dore. Yates\u2019 bike of choice for a tough stage that included 4,450m of elevation? The S5.<\/p>\n

How much difference does it make?
\n\"TourThe hardest mountain stage of the race was won on\u2026 a Giant Propel aero bike. Tim de Waele\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

How much difference does an aero bike<\/a> make versus a climbing bike<\/a>? Let\u2019s use stage 18 of the 2025 Tour de France as an example.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At 171.5km, from Vif to Courchevel through the French Alps with a total of 5,450m of elevation, the stage included three brutal HC climbs \u2013 the Col du Glandon, the Col de la Madeleine, and a summit finish up the fearsome Col de la Loze.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The winner of this stage, Ben O\u2019Connor, piloted an aero Giant Propel to victory after attacking at the bottom of the final climb and riding solo to the finish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor\u2019s average speed for the stage was 33.87kph. According to Strava<\/a>, up the nearly 26km Col de La Loze, which O\u2019Connor rode solo, he averaged 22.5kph.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TourO’Connor’s bike wouldn’t have given up much to a lightweight bike on the scales, but would have been much more efficient at cutting through the air. Marco BERTORELLO \/ AF Getty Images<\/p>\n

At that speed, aerodynamic performance isn\u2019t going to be much of a factor at all \u2013 with most brands agreeing that aerodynamics come into play at speeds faster than about 25kph, and most aero optimised products being designed around racing speeds of 40-50kph.<\/p>\n

Colnago, for example, says that \u201cTests conducted in real-world configurations show that the Y1Rs requires 20 fewer watts than the V4Rs to maintain a speed of 50kph. [This confers] A significant advantage in fast races and windy conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, using an online power & speed calculator<\/a>, we can see the power difference required on a lightweight bike setup versus an aero bike.\u00a0<\/p>\n\nRider weight<\/td>\n67kg<\/td>\n67kg<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nBike weight<\/td>\n7kg<\/td>\n7.5kg<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nGradient<\/td>\n6.5%<\/td>\n6.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nSpeed<\/td>\n22.5kph<\/td>\n22.5kph<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nWatts required<\/strong><\/td>\n373.05<\/strong><\/td>\n375.04<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

With all the other variables remaining the same, including CDA and rolling resistance, a 500g difference in bike weight \u2013 which is arguably generous when comparing aero and lightweight bikes in 2025 \u2013 results in a difference of just under two watts.<\/p>\n

So why are pros choosing aero bikes over lightweight climbing bikes?
\n\"TourAt faster racing speeds, the choice is a no-brainer. Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Two watts isn\u2019t that big a difference over an hour or so, and that number also doesn\u2019t account for any aerodynamic benefit of the aero frame over the lightweight climbing frame. On the faster sections of the climb, where O’Connor’s speed increased to in excess of 50kph, the weight difference would be more than offset by the aerodynamic gains.<\/p>\n

This also doesn\u2019t factor in the energy O’Connor managed to save for the 145km before the final climb \u2013 not to mention the 17 stages that came prior.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bike racing is only getting faster. This year\u2019s Tour was won with an average speed of 42.8491kph<\/a> across 21 days of racing \u2013 that\u2019s a new record by 0.7kph.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Riding bikes fast gets exponentially harder the faster you go, as the power required to overcome drag increases at the cube of velocity \u2013 the jump from 30kph to 40kph is demonstrably easier than the jump from 40kph to 50kph, despite both being an increase in speed of 10kph.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Racing hundreds of kilometres every day for three weeks burns an absolute shedload of energy \u2013 so if a rider can save even a little bit every day, this stacks up to race-winning differences when the racing really kicks off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What does that mean for the pros?
\n\"TadejEven Oscar Onley and Florian Lipowitz’s bikes (a Lapierre Xelius DRS and Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8, respectively) are all-rounders, rather than true lightweight bikes. Dario Belingheri \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

The lightweight race bike is dead in the pro peloton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the UCI weight limit stays at 6.8kg, and modern aero bikes can be built pretty close to that, why would you want to ride a climbing bike that weighs pretty much the same, but is less efficient?<\/p>\n

While a lighter bike will be faster than a heavier bike on an isolated climb, professional bike races like that simply don\u2019t exist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even the stage 13 mountain time trial up Peyragudes at this year\u2019s Tour de France had a 3km flat section at the start, where riders were cruising at 50kph.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Simply put, pro bike racing is so fast now that there isn\u2019t a parcours out there hilly enough to justify prioritising weight saving over watt saving.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On top of that, if the UCI weight limit stays at 6.8kg \u2013 even though we\u2019ve seen most of the bike manufacturers at the Tour build aero bikes up that are close to that \u2013 then what incentive is there to choose a lightweight bike in the first place?<\/p>\n

But what about us?<\/p>\n

Fortunately, for amateurs, consumers and the general cycling masses, you don\u2019t have to race the Tour de France. You can choose a bike based on heaps of other features beyond \u2018what\u2019s fastest?\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Things such as fit, aesthetics, ride feel, colour and budget will have a much bigger input on the bike you choose to ride, beyond pure speed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, for the pros, outside of a very select few stages and keeping sponsors happy, the days of the dedicated climbing bike are over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tadej Poga\u010dar won the 2025 Tour de France using, almost exclusively, an aero bike. Second-place finisher Jonas Vingegaard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-312273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114959954519834236","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}