Pro Bike: Arianna Fidanza’s Orbea Orca Team Edition

Riding for the German outfit Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team, Arianna Fidanza has the choice of two bikes from the team's bike provider Orbea. When we managed to get our hands on her bike at the UAE Tour she had opted for the lightweight Orca over the aero Orca Aero.

The rationale behind the seventh-generation Orca puts it in a class of its own amongst the professional peloton. Prioritising low weight above all else without a nod to any specific aero profiling or optimisation.

• Read more: New Orbea Orca goes all-in on climbing performance

Purely feathery intentions

With the mountain test of Jabal Hafeet on the cards, having the lightest bike possible is almost certainly an advantage when the gradient kicks up. Interestingly, the latest generation Orca has taken a different approach to most brands. Orbea wanted to make the Orca as light as possible and have completely bucked the aero trend in the process. Here you will not find a blunt Kamm tail profile or dropped seat stays. The frame has been designed with the sole purpose of saving grams and efficiently transferring power from the rider to the road.

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The latest Orca from Orbea bucks the dominating aero trend of the pro peloton

The end result of the decision is a bike that can comfortably sit under the UCI’s minimum weight limit of 6.8kg giving riders room to add bottle cages, pedals and bike computers without any weight penalty. Orbea claimed upon its release, that the Orca was “around three watts faster than an aero bike, for an average rider, on a 5% slope, and around six watts faster on a 10% slope”.

• Read more: Lightweight vs aero - which bike climbs faster?

Orbea Oquo wheels

The wheels used by Ceratizit-WNT are also provided by Orbea’s in-house wheel brand Oquo. There are three depths on offer, and in this case, Fidanza opted for the mid-depth RP45Team. As the name might suggest, these sport a 45mm deep profile balancing aerodynamics and gram saving. The decision to manufacture performance wheels themselves came from the want to have complete control over the process, ensuring high quality and low overall weight for the bike as a system.

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In-house brand Oquo supply the team with its wheels with Fidanza using the RP45Team

The wheelset is not the only appearance from Oquo with the stem with neat internal cable routing also from Oquo. Although the cables are not fully internally routed through the bars they are only briefly exposed as they exit the bars before flowing into the small inlet underneath the stem.

• Read more: Orbea unveil the team bikes Lotto Dstny will be using in 2024

Levers on the limit

The UCI announced at the end of 2023 that it would be regulating the position of riders' brake levers in 2024 with new rules coming into place for 2025. The reason cited for this clamp-down was rooted in rider safety as the trend of turning your levers in, puts them in a position that they weren't designed for.

• Read more: UCI has turned-in brake levers in its sights with new regulations set for 2025

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Fidanza's lever position looks to be right on the 10-degree limit

The reason riders choose to turn their levers in is for the aerodynamic benefit. Creating a narrower frontal area can massively increase your efficiency through the air and since the UCI outlawed the “puppy paws” position, this is the closest riders can get to a time trial-esque position. From the start of 2024, the position of a rider's levers is restricted to a maximum of a 10-degree in-turn from the profile of the bars. In this setup, Fidanza looks to be right on this limit.

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