Tao Geoghegan Hart’s Trek Speed Concept TT bike

2024 marks Tao Geoghegan Hart’s first season with Lidl-Trek which means it's all change on the equipment front with fresh sponsors and new bikes to get accustomed to. Nowhere is equipment more important than in time trialling. The race against the clock has become a technological arms race in recent years with teams and brands investing heavily in finding new and better ways to cheat the wind.

Racing for the first time this year - and in several months, since his nasty Giro d'Italia crash last May - Geoghegan Hart is currently in action at the Volta ao Algarve. Just as the Brit has had his first taste of climbing with his new team, he'll have his first time trial test on Saturday, with a 22km TT on stage 4 set to be key for the GC.

• Read more: Volta ao Algarve: Tao Geoghegan Hart matches favourites on first climbing test since comeback

The bike of choice for the Lidl-Trek team for the 'race of truth' is the Trek Speed Concept. As is the way with modern TT bikes, the Speed Concept features deep aero section frame profiles and an intriguingly shaped top tube that aims to squeeze every performance gain out of its silhouette.

Custom aero bars

Geoghegan Hart will be using a set of custom-tailored aero extensions from Aero Bar. These have been designed to conform to his forearms making for a seamless join between rider and bike. According to Aero Bar, these custom bars allow for more comfort and, by extension, more control compared to normal aero bars.

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The aero extensions match Geoghegan Harts profile with a neutral hand position to help aid with comfort

A large part of Aero Bars' philosophy is around increasing comfort whilst in the aggressive time trial position, as comfort leads to great power output. Aero Bar claims that their custom fitted extensions can offer riders between an 11-23 watt saving over generic extensions.

SRAM Red AXS one by

We often see SRAM-sponsored teams using a single front chainring in time trials. By doing away with the front derailleur and the inner chainring the bottom bracket area of the bike is significantly tidied up which has a measurable aerodynamic benefit.

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One-by drive trains are becoming increasingly common for SRAM sponsored teams

Geoghegan Hart has selected a massive 58-tooth front ring for the TT in this week's Volta ao Algarve on a course which is far from pan flat with over 300 metres of climbing across 22km. To help keep him rolling over the hills on course he has opted for the wider 10-33 cassette that SRAM offers in the Red groupset.

• Read more: Complete guide to road bike groupsets 2024

Riders use larger chainrings in TTs for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the speed of time trials today is so high that they need a big gear to avoid spinning out. Secondly, a bigger chainring allows them to spend more time in the middle of the cassette, in a gear that has a straight chain line. The more the chain has to deflect from a straight line between the chainring and the cassette the greater the energy loss in the system, so being able to sit in an optimised gear presents a worthwhile performance benefit.

Wide rims and wide tyres

TT bikes have long been the last stronghold of narrower tyres with teams reluctant to fit wider tyres to their outright speed machines. This looks to be changing with the latest batch of wide profile wheels actually testing faster with wider tyres fitted to them.

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The 26mm Pirelli P-Zero tyres look to inflate a little wider on the Bontrager RSL 75 wheels

The Bontrager Aeolus RSL 75 front wheel that is fitted to the bike has an internal rim width of 23mm and an external width of 31mm. Fitted to this is a Pirelli P-Zero Race tyre in a 26mm width which looks to sit wider than this on the wide rim profile.

Finishing kit

Wrapping up the bike is a custom Wahoo bike computer mount that neatly nestles the computer between the aero extensions making it easy to read whilst in the TT position.

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The custom Wahoo mount perfectly nestles the computer between the extensions

Topping off the frame is a Bontrager Hilo XXX saddle which has a split channel design and has been anatomically designed to the requirements of TT and triathlon riders. Lastly, the team are using pedals from SRAM-owned brand TIME with Geoghegan Hart using the XPRO-15 model.

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