Pro bike: Tobias Foss' Pinarello Dogma F

Tobias Foss recently stole the tech headlines at the UAE Tour for his use of a monster 68t chainring. The Norwegian wasn’t alone, as the whole Ineos Grenadiers squad resorted to larger rings in their bid for time trial success, with the huge chainrings fitted to all their Pinarello Bolide bikes.

For the rest of the race, Foss and his teammates used the Pinarello Dogma F, which didn’t garner too much attention at the race compared to the Bolide, but still retains its status as one of the most recognisable bikes in the WorldTour peloton, thanks to its widespread success over the last 14 years.

We took a closer look at Foss’ Pinarello Dogma F at the race to see what we could discover.

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

Foss swaps Cervélo for Pinarello

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Foss has switched to Pinarello bikes for 2024

Tobias Foss is a new addition to the Ineos Grenadiers squad for the 2024 season, having made the move over from Visma-Lease a Bike. With that move, Foss also waved goodbye to one of the most successful bike brand in the WorldTour peloton: Cervélo.

Since linking up with Cervélo, Visma have claimed two Tour de France titles, plus the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España in 2023 as part of a historic Grand Tour clean sweep. Away from the team, Cervélo bikes have also claimed world titles, most notably by Foss, who caused a shock to win the time trial crown at the 2022 World Championships.

That’s a seriously successful team and bike brand to leave behind, but Foss won’t need to worry. The bike brand he has swapped to has been one of the most successful brands on the road over the past 14 years. Back in the 2010’s, Team Sky were an unstoppable force at the Tour de France, winning seven of the 10 editions. Four of those were won by Chris Froome, while Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal all chipped in with wins too.

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The Pinarello Dogma has some unique tube shapes

It’s what has made the Pinarello Dogma such a recognisable bike, although its unique tube shapes have played a part in this too. These have been tamed a little over the years but the latest Pinarello Dogma F is still an eye-catching bike with a sloped top tube and kinked fork and seat stays.

You’ll struggle to find another bike that cuts a similar silhouette in the same peloton, which is high praise indeed at a time when it’s increasingly hard to distinguish between the different bikes.

• Read more: Best men's WorldTour bikes of 2023: Which brand won the most races?

No 68t chainring on Foss’ road bike

Considering his 68t chainring for the time trial, you may have expected something a little beyond the ordinary for his road bike too. That wasn’t the case, though, as the Norwegian turned to a standard (for the professionals) Shimano Dura-Ace groupset with a 54/40t set-up.

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Foss' chainring set-up was a more standard 54/40t

This is the most popular option in the pro peloton, which offers a nice range of gears when paired with the 11-34t cassette used by Foss. Gearing range is the main reason that we don’t see many riders stray too wildly when it comes to chainring set-ups on road bikes.

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The Shimano cassette

Depending on the parcours, this will also be a consideration for time trial set-up, but efficiency is the main recipe for TT speed. Efficiency becomes even more important when the time trial route is flat and untechnical like the one served up at the UAE Tour, which is what makes larger chainrings a viable option. The idea is to choose a ring that gives the right gearing when the rider is in the middle cog in the cassette for the speed the rider will be doing for the majority of the TT.

• Read more: Why bigger is better when it comes to time trial chainrings

Shimano are long-term Ineos Grenadiers partners

Like Pinarello, Shimano has been teamed up with Ineos Grenadiers since the team’s inception, playing a key role in their success. That’s not only been with its groupsets, but also its wheels too.

The Japanese brand provides a range of depths but Foss opted for the mid-range Dura-Ace C50 wheelset with their 50mm depths.

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A combination of Shimano's Dura-Ace C50 wheels and Continental Grand Prix tyres

These were paired with Continental Grand Prix 5000 TR tubeless tyres in a 28mm width.

Up front the bike had a one-piece cockpit from Pinarello’s in-house Most brand.

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Foss has a new Prologo saddle having previously used Fizik saddles at Visma-Lease a Bike

The change of teams also meant a new saddle, with Foss replacing his old Fizik model for a Prologo Nago R4 PAS.

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