Lidl-Trek rider spotted using unreleased Bontrager shoes at Tour Down Under

Bontrager appears to have a new range of road shoes in the pipeline with Lidl-Trek’s Jacopo Mosca spotted riding an as-yet unreleased model at the Tour Down Under.

The Trek-owned brand's current range-topping model, the XXX, were last updated four years ago but they could soon be joined or superseded by the new shoes.

The shoes in question have already briefly broken cover, having been teased by Tim Declercq in an Instagram story, but now they’ve been seen at a race for the first time - and they feature some interesting new tech.

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Unlike other shoes within Bontrager’s line-up, they have a knitted construction that should lead to a light weight. Lots of small holes are weaved into the material along the top and side of the foot to provide ventilation - something much-needed at the Tour Down Under where temperatures often stray beyond the 30 degrees Celsius barrier.

Knitted shoes can also be harder to keep clean, especially if they’re white like Mosca’s, which already had some dirt marks ahead of stage 2 when we spotted them. It’s unlikely this will cause too many problems, though, as their lightweight construction suggests that they’re designed more for climbing than the farm roads of Roubaix.

© GCN

The new shoes have a knitted material

As they’re knitted, the shoes also have a one-piece construction, acting much like a sock. Small strips of added material, inscribed with Metnet, on the outside of the knitted construction, are then pulled together using what appears to be Boa Li2 dials to tighten everything together.

Finishing the design, the tongue of the shoe has an ‘RSL’ logo which suggests that the shoes will fall into the same range as the other products within Trek’s line-up that bear the same name, such as the brand’s RSL saddles, handlebars and wheels.

While there’s no official word yet, it’s likely that the shoes will officially break cover sometime in the new season.

The new shoes aren't the only new tech the American brand has in the works, with Giulio Ciccone recently spotted riding what appears to be a new Emonda. Like the aero Madone, the new design appears to incorporate the brand’s IsoFlow technology with a hole in the down tube.

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