Pro bike: Bauke Mollema’s Trek Madone SLR

At 37, Bauke Mollema is now a veteran of the WorldTour peloton, but he’s still set to rack up a couple more years of experience yet. Sticking to the current trend of ‘age is but a number’, the Dutchman has a contract with Lidl-Trek through until the end of 2026 meaning that, barring a premature retirement, he will be racing all the way up until the grand age of 39, at least.

By the time his current contract winds to an end, Mollema will be able to reflect on 20 full years in the pro ranks, over half of which will have been spent at Lidl-Trek. The American team has become a home-from-home, overseeing 13 of his 17 professional victories.

Trek bikes have also been a constant throughout this success, so it’s fitting that Mollema will compete on the American brand’s bikes in what could be his final seasons as a pro.

Like in 2015 when he first joined the team, Mollema will compete on the Trek Madone and Emonda in 2024, except they’ve changed a lot over the years. We got our hands on Mollema’s Madone at the season-opening Tour Down Under to take a closer look at the bike’s design and Mollema’s build for the race.

• Read more: 2024 Men's WorldTour bikes: A guide to the bikes, groupsets, and tech of the top-tier teams

Trek Madone: Aero epitomised

Aero rules in the cycling world; there’s no avoiding it. Virtually every product is now influenced by aerodynamics in some way. Considering the huge focus on aerodynamics, then, it’s not too surprising that aero has taken on many interesting forms in recent years - arguably reaching a climax with the Giro helmet Visma-Lease a Bike have started using in 2024.

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Trek's IsoFlow technology

In the realm of bikes, Trek’s Madone arguably epitomises the aero approach the best through its IsoFlow technology. To the untrained eye, IsoFlow may appear to simply be a hole beneath the seatpost and, well, it essentially is. It’s not there for the sake of it, though, and has real performance benefits, both aerodynamically and in terms of shedding weight.

IsoFlow broke cover when the latest Trek Madone was officially released in 2022 and it added to what was already a very aerodynamic bike. It cuts a traditional aero bike silhouette but is still a far cry from the Madone Mollema used at the beginning of his tenure with the team. Back then the bike still had oval tubes and was largely influenced by weight, although those weight concerns have since been pushed to one side by virtually every brand by aero thinking, as shown by the below overview of the pro bikes we’ve covered since 2015.

• Read more: Analysing nine years of GCN pro bike checks: here's why bikes are getting heavier

American theme

Trek is a US brand and the rest of the bike sticks to the American theme, starting with the SRAM Red groupset.

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SRAM's Red groupset

Lidl-Trek are one of only four teams who are using SRAM’s Red groupset in 2024, with the rest using Shimano - Campagnolo is now absent from cycling’s top tier. Running SRAM comes with a bonus over other brands: the ability to run 1x. It’s something Lidl-Trek took advantage of in 2023, including Mollema who used a 1x set-up at the Vuelta a España on his Madone.

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An 11-33t cassette

The Dutchman returned to a traditional 2x set-up for the Tour Down Under, combining a 54/41t chainset with what appeared to be a 10-33t cassette.

• Read more: Pro bike: Elisa Longo Borghini’s Trek Émonda SLR

Bontrager’s Aeolus wheels

Bontrager, which is owned by Trek, also continued this American theme through its Aeolus wheels. Mollema used the RSL 51 version, with their mid-depth 51mm rims.

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Bontrager has deeper wheels in its line-up

They were paired with Pirelli’s P Zero Race tyres in a 28mm width - virtually all riders, except those sponsored by Specialized, used this width at the race.

Up front, there were no surprises with Mollema using a one-piece Bontrager Aeolus RSL handlebar. Perhaps surprisingly, some of Mollema’s teammates used separate bars and stems on their bikes, like Quinn Simmons, which don’t presumably provide the same aero benefits.

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Mollema stuck to a one-piece bar and stem

Elsewhere, Mollema’s saddle of choice was the Bontrager Arvada.

Bike Specification