Tom Pidcock and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s new Pinarello Dogma XC revealed

Pinarello has unveiled their new Dogma XC, the first cross country mountain bike released by the Italian brand since 2012 - and it’s made a winning start to life.

The bike was officially debuted by INEOS Grenadiers duo Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Tom Pidcock in the UCI MTB World Cup in Nové Město where the latter triumphed in both the elite men’s short track and cross country races.

Both riders were heavily involved in the bike’s development and they’ll continue to provide feedback and testing ahead of its planned March 2024 commercial release.

It’s not the only mountain bike on the horizon from Pinarello either, with a hardtail version also in the works, although a release date has not been confirmed.

Race-winning pedigree

Pinarello and INEOS Grenadiers have forged a race-winning partnership on the road over the last decade. Spearheaded by the arrival of Ferrand-Prévot and Pidcock, that’s been taken off road into the realms of mountain biking in the form of the new Dogma XC. With it, the success has seemingly followed closely behind.

Even before its first official victories, both Ferrand-Prévot and Pidcock had already powered to wins atop unbranded versions of the bike at the French Cup and ÖKK Bike Revolution respectively, INEOS confirmed.

This early success came after a rigorous period of testing and development that started in the autumn of 2022. With a renewed focus on mountain biking, Pinarello hired a mountain bike research and development team who analysed Pidcock’s feedback and data from the last two seasons. They used that to create a bike that meets his and Ferrand-Prévot’s racing requirements in multiple key areas.

Ineos Grenadiers

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot in action on her new Pinarello

Optimised stiffness

As expected, the Dogma XC is designed to win races. One of the key formulas for success is stiffness, something Pinarello claims is delivered in abundance through a unique bottom bracket design.

The bottom bracket visually stands out courtesy of a triangular void at the junction between the seat tube and downtube, but its design is about performance instead of eye-catching looks. According to Pinarello, it optimises stiffness and accommodates an oversized bearing.

Reactive handling

The frame also features a patent-pending design for the rear triangle consisting of two distinct “semi-triangles”. These attach to a rotation point moulded into the carbon frame. Using this design eliminates the need for seatstay or chainstay bridges, which has allowed Pinerello to reduce the chainstay lengths.

This, Pinarello claims, improves handling and reactivity.

The design also incorporates flex-stays which reduces the number of pivot points required to three, helping to “save weight, improve stiffness, and deliver an improved connection between rider and rear wheel”. With a focus on kinematics, Pinarello has used a mixed bearings and bushing system in each pivot, claiming it leads to better power transfer and optimised compression and rebound.

Ready for any course

One of Pinarello’s key requirements was to design a bike that provides the “ability to match suspension travel to the unique demands of each circuit”. Mountain bike circuits vary greatly and the requirements of a bike can differ.

To make the Dogma XC as adaptable as possible, the suspension connection point under the top tube is adjustable, meaning different sized rear shock absorbers can be fitted. Accommodating either a 100mm suspension fork and 90mm shock, or a 120mm and 100mm combination, the geometry of the bike is optimised to accommodate either setup.

Finishing touches

Taking inspiration from modern road bike trends, the Dogma XC has a fully integrated cockpit and cable routing. This isn’t unheard of in mountain biking but also isn’t common and reaffirms that this is a bike built to win races, with any marginal gain (sorry to coin a road term!) catered for.

The bike can also accommodate 2.35-inch tyres, 160mm flat-mount disc brakes (or 180mm with an adapter), plus a 1x12 chainset with either a 32 or 40-tooth chainring.

With the commercial release not until March 2024 - just ahead of the Paris Olympics - specific components are yet to be confirmed.

Pinarello

Pinarello is a bike manufacturer based in Treviso, Italy. It produces a range of high-end bikes for road, track, mountain and electric disciplines. The company takes pride in being the most decorated bike manufacturer in Tour de France history.