Pro bike: Ben Swift's Pinarello Bolide TT with 66-tooth track chainring

The UAE Tour often serves up fast time trial courses that produce ferocious speeds. Filippo Ganna averaged over 55.9kph en route to stage 2 victory at the race in 2021, while Stefan Bissegger fell just short of that speed at 55.5kph in 2022.

2023 provided a brief respite as the race served up a team time trial but an individual effort against the clock has returned once again in 2024, and, as has become traditional, it’s another short and pan-flat route that will suit the powerhouses.

With only two left-hand turns and two U-turns to contend with, riders are expected to fly around the course but, as always, they’ll need to perfect their set-up for the parcours to excel.

So, how are riders set up for the race? We got our hands on Ben Swift’s Pinarello Bolide ahead of the stage to find out more.

• Read more: Wout van Aert spotted riding an unreleased Cervélo P5 at Volta ao Algarve

Large chainring… but not 68t

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By our count Swift is using a 66t chainring

Pros have been increasingly turning to larger chainrings in recent times but that appeared to have capped at 64t. That is until Tobias Foss rocked up at the UAE Tour with a 68t chainring in tow.

Even for a flat course, that’s an incredible size and blows away any other set-ups we’ve seen used in recent years. Except, the former time trial world champion isn’t an anomaly as multiple riders in the Ineos Grenadiers team will run monster set-ups, including Ben Swift.

• Read more: Tobias Foss will use a monster 68-tooth chainring for UAE Tour time trial

The British rider had, if our counting is correct, a 66t set-up. Either way, it appears to be a new approach from the British outfit adopted in the name of efficiency, although the team weren’t willing to let out all of their secrets just yet.

“I think you will probably see it become more common across other teams as well," Ineos Grenadiers sports director Oli Cookson told GCN. "I won’t go into the science behind it, but depending on the course and the rider, it is all about efficiency and being as fast as possible."

The carbon chainring is produced by Digirit but its road and time trial range of chainrings only go up to a 60t option. Ineos Grenadiers appear to be using the brand’s track offering instead, which matches the pattern and goes up to a 70t offering - so the team are even maxing out the limits of track cycling set-ups.

Efficiency is key

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An 11-30t cassette

As alluded to by Cookson, efficiency is the name of the game with time trialling so teams use smaller cassettes, in this case an 11-30t for Swift as a part of Shimano's Dura-Ace groupset. That means more compact gearing with less increments between gears.

The idea in a time trial is to stay in a mid-range gear on the cassette so the chain will be as straight as possible, and the size of the chainring will be judged against this gear to work out what a rider can run.

Pinarello Bolide

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The Pinarello Bolide was released in 2022

Of course, you can have the perfect set-up but it won’t mean much without the right bike. Swift and his Ineos Grenadiers teammates won’t need to worry about their Pinarello Bolide, which has proven itself through multiple victories over the years.

The latest version was released in 2022 ahead of the Tour de France with claims that it was - and still is - Pinarello’s “fastest bike ever” and it certainly looks fast. Results back that up too and Ganna has predictably been the most prolific rider piloting it, claiming four time trial wins since the bike’s official release.

One of the biggest changes upon its release, the bike had shifted to disc from rim brakes. That sounds obvious at this stage but it’s not that long ago that all time trials bikes used rim brakes. Beyond the additional braking performance, disc brakes are also more aerodynamic.

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A birds-eye view of the Most custom cockpit

The other stand-out change was the custom MOST cockpit with its 3D-printed titanium extensions, as can be seen on Swift’s bike.

And, while the bike shares a resemblance to other time trial bikes, it has kept Pinarello’s trademark tube shapes with the slightly kinked top tube and down tube that give the Pinarello Dogma it’s instantly recognisable look.

Finishing touches

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The short-nosed Prologo saddle

As time trialling forces riders into some rather uncomfortable positions, they will often use different saddles on their time trial bikes compared to their road bikes. To generate power, riders tend to sit on the far nose but that’s not particularly comfortable.

This is partly resolved by using a short-nosed saddle and many riders opt for a considerable cut out. Swift’s Prologo Dimension Tri is on the more reserved end for both of these factors.

Elsewhere, Princeton CarbonWorks provides the wheelset in the form of the Blur disc rear and three-spoked Mach front wheels. This is a shift from Shimano which provides wheels for the team’s road bikes.

Additional reporting by George Poole

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