UAE Tour time trial tech gallery: New bikes, monster gearing and custom cockpits

Just when we thought chainrings couldn’t get any larger, Tobias Foss swooped in with this monster 68t set-up

His Ineos Grenadiers teammate Ben Swift used a slightly smaller 66t set-up. They were made possible by Digirit chainrings, except these weren’t designed for the road or time trialling, but for the track

The enormous chainrings were fitted to the Pinarello Bolide, which was released in 2022 and retains the same trademark tube shapes as the brand’s iconic Dogma road bike

Shimano components dominate the WorldTour peloton and its groupsets are used by 14 of the 18 teams. However, the brand doesn’t offer a 1x groupset as standard, which is why most teams swapped in different chainrings

No one came close to matching the set-ups used by Ineos Grenadiers, though. This Carbon-Ti chainring, used by UAE Team Emirates, is a 60t or 62t by our count

It powered Colnago’s aptly named TT1 bike, which is heading into its second full WorldTour season, having officially broken cover midway through 2022

Running a 1x set-up means removing the front derailleur. Most teams substitute it with a chain guide which helps to keep the chain on the ring. Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale had an aero solution for their Van Rysel bikes in the form of the the Drag2Zero Aero chain catcher

Not everyone ditched 2x, though. This Cannondale SuperSlice was 2x with Vision chainrings and a Power2Max power meter

Four out of the 18 teams use SRAM groupsets. These four teams can take advantage of the American brand’s 1x road offering, but this Movistar bike stuck to a 56/43t set-up. We’ve seen multiple riders use this combination on road bikes in 2024

The SRAM Red groupset sat aboard Canyon’s Speedmax, a time trial bike the German brand describes as an “aerodynamic masterpiece”. It’s hard to argue with that when looking at the bike

The Canyon Speedmax and most of its companions have been regulars at WorldTour level for a number of years now, but there was one new bike on show in the form of Van Rysel’s XCR

Decathlon-owned Van Rysel jumped aboard as bike sponsors at Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, bringing a brand new range of bikes along with it

The French brand recruited aerodynamic experts Swiss Side to help with the design of the bike. The Swiss-based company will also provide the team’s wheels in 2024

Deep head tubes are the norm on time trial bikes but the XCR's is up there with the deepest we’ve seen

The XCR wasn’t actually the only new time trial bike at the race. Visma-Lease a Bike riders were spotted riding an unreleased version of the Cervélo P5 at the Volta ao Algarve. We weren’t allowed to take snaps of the bikes at the UAE Tour, adding to the rumours that a new bike is imminent

Time trial bikes go through hundreds to thousands of hours of testing in wind tunnels and through CFD. All of that aerodynamic fine-tuning can be hampered by less aerodynamic components. One problem for teams is the valve holes in wheels but Soudal Quick-Step had a simple solution: tape

UAE Team Emirates were less concerned and left their holes uncovered. It didn’t hold them back as they claimed a 1-2-3 finish

Movistar didn’t cover the holes on their rear Zipp disc wheels either

Elsewhere, dsm-firmenich PostNL are one of the only teams who swap wheel brands for time trialling. The Dutch outfit uses Shimano for road races but Syncros for efforts against the clock

Ineos Grenadiers do the same, except they switch from Shimano to Princeton CarbonWorks, in this case a Blur/Mach combo

The British outfit had some more interesting features on their Pinarello Bolide bike, including the custom Most cockpit. These were introduced when the latest version of the Pinarello Bolide was released ahead of the 2022 Tour de France

TV screens often don’t do justice to the elevated position time trial set-ups put a rider in. As displayed by this Syncros Creston TT cockpit, it’s a seriously high position

All of the components so far are optimised for aerodynamics, but to achieve an aerodynamic body position, the riders need the right saddle. Most riders use a short-nosed saddle, like this Specialized Sitero, to allow them to rock their hips forward.

Most riders also opt for a saddle with a significant cut out to alleviate pressure in sensitive areas, like on this Fizik Aeris on Davide Cimolai’s Canyon Speedmax