Hot tech and bikes spotted at the Giro d’Italia

The Giro d’Italia is the first men’s Grand Tour of the season and is one of the most prestigious races on the calendar. With the Classics done and dusted all eyes now turn to the three-week stage race around Italy.

With Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) in the pink jersey after two stages and the GC battle already hotting up, there's plenty to talk about on the racing side, but there's also lots of new and exciting tech on show throughout the pro peloton.

Ahead of the race start in Turin over the weekend, we sent Alex Paton to see what hot tech he could scope out. From new SRAM Red to some cool paint jobs, here’s what he found!

EF Education-EasyPost’s fleet of vehicles

The big, bright team buses are perhaps the first thing we think of when we think of a team's vehicles, but in reality, the bus is just a piece of a whole fleet that the WorldTour teams will bring to a race. The mechanics have their own truck, so too might the team chefs, and the soigneurs rely on vans and cars to get everything ready for their riders, head to the feed zones, and more. A look at the team vehicles goes to show the size of the operation teams face to successfully navigate a Grand Tour.

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The mechanics truck was full to the brim with wheels and bikes ahead of the race getting underway

Because we are tech aficionados, the first thing we wanted to look at was the mechanics’ truck. Inside, Alex was blown away not by just how many bikes and wheels are stored within it but also by how clean and tidy it is. To prevent confusion over which wheels are which, a smart labelling system is used to denote if the wheels are for the race bikes or are spare, which team car the spares are to go on and also which mechanics truck they are to be stored in. This helps to streamline the process of getting everything ready ahead of a race day and in a Grand Tour, any gains in efficiency are worthwhile.

• Read more: Inside a pro cycling team bus with Lotto Dstny

EF Education-EasyPost team bikes

Sticking with the American WorldTour team, Alex took a closer look at the Cannondale SuperSix Evo Lab 71 bikes that the team will be riding for all road stages of the race. The bike is in the typical bold and bright colourway that we have grown accustomed to from the team, however, ahead of the Giro there are a few subtle changes over the team's regular set-up.

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EF Education-Easy Post are using Vision's latest Metron 5D integrated cockpit

• Read more: Pro bike: Richard Carapaz’s Cannondale Supersix Evo

Instead of the Momo integrated cockpit, the team have opted to use Vision’s latest Metron 5D one-piece bar and stem. One of the nice things about this bar is that it comes in two depths for the tops, giving riders a bit more control over how the bar feels in their hands.

New SRAM Red spotted at Visma-Lease a Bike

Although a highly guarded secret, Alex did spot what looks to be a new generation SRAM Red AXS groupset on some of the team bikes from Visma-Lease a Bike. Right now it is purely speculation about what is new but from what Alex has seen it does look like the levers have had a redesign with the cranks and brake callipers also getting an update, and what looks to be a new derailleur too.

• Read more: New SRAM Red AXS groupset unreleased but out in force at Giro d’Italia

With the groupset in action at the race, it cannot be long until an official release about the new groupset is issued. Make sure to check the GCN tech news section of the website for any updates on this story.

Trek RSL Knit shoe

It is not just bikes and groupsets that Alex has his eyes peeled for. He also managed to get his hands on the latest shoes used by Lidl-Trek. The Trek RSL Knit shoe features an exoskeleton design that has the closure system mounted independently of the upper material.

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Trek's RSL Knit shoe uses an exoskeleton design to separate the upper from the shoes closure system

Trek are calling this design the METNET, which aims to improve foot comfort when riding. Interestingly, the shoe does away with the common wire ‘lace’ commonly associated with a BOA closure system and instead uses fabric strings, once again to increase comfort and minimise hotspots.

• Read more: Lidl-Trek rider spotted using unreleased Bontrager shoes at Tour Down Under

Giant TCR

Earlier in the year, Giant released the latest edition of its TCR road bike. At the time the brand claimed that the new bike was lighter, stiffer and faster than its predecessors which naturally made it the perfect bike for the rigours of a Grand Tour for the Giant sponsored team of Jayco AlUla. Although similar in design, the new bikes have a slightly different paint finish on them to the Giant Propel aero bike also used by the team. The new bikes sport a chrome finish that gives the bikes a lot of shine and in the sun is sure to catch people's eyes as they roll past.

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Jayco AlUla have a new chrome finish paint scheme for the brand new Giant TCR team bike

That is not all that is new with the bike also fitted with a new one-piece cockpit from Cadex which features a flared profile from the hoods to the drops. The bars used on Filippo Zana’s bike measure 39cm at the hoods, flaring to 42cm on the drops to give a little bit more control when in the more aggressive riding position.

Cadex Max 40

Another piece of hot tech coming from Cadex is the Max 40 wheels also used by team Jayco AlUla. From a distance these look like any other deep-section carbon wheels, however upon closer inspection it becomes apparent that these aren’t quite so ordinary.

Cadex's Max 40 wheelset does away with typical spoke design, instead bonding the carbon spokes directly to the hub

The spokes mount to the rim in the traditional fashion of using a spoke nipple, however, at the hub the spokes are bonded onto the flange rather than slotting into a groove or through a drilled hole. The aim of this is to decrease the overall weight of the wheel whilst increasing stiffness.

• Read more: How are carbon fibre wheels designed and tested?

Bahrain Victorious custom number holder

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The small carbon fibre number holders are a simple an neat solution for mounting numbers to the rear of the seatpost

Over at the team of Bahrain Victorious, Alex spotted a rather neat solution for mounting race numbers to the rear of rider's seatposts. Instead of using a clamp that wraps around the seatpost, the mechanics have bonded a small carbon fibre number holder to the rear of the seatpost. As well as saving a little bit of weight, this solution is incredibly neat and tidy, helping to make the bikes look that little bit more ‘pro’.

What is your favourite piece of hot tech from the Giro so far? Let us know in the comments section below and for more tech news head over to the dedicated tech section of the GCN website for all the latest news and features.