Tech gallery: Tadej Pogačar's Tour of Flanders Colnago V3Rs
After an awe-inspiring ride on Sunday, Tadej Pogačar somehow found himself off the podium after a performance that deserved so much more. Had it not been for a few costly mistakes in the sprint, things could have been oh-so-different. The young Slovenian is the kid who can seemingly do it all — Grand Tours, the biggest one-day races, and now cobbled monuments — and his bike is proving to be similarly versatile. From Tour de France wins to monument victories (and a few other wins along the way), Pogačar has raced on the Colnago V3Rs throughout, albeit both rim and disc brake versions. We got a chance to snap his 2022 bike ahead of last weekend’s Tour of Flanders, and while very little has changed since we last saw the bike at the Tour de France, there are still a few differences worth noting.
Pogačar and his UAE-Emirates teammates are riding the Colnago V3Rs, equipped with 12-speed Campagnolo Super Record EPS, disc brakes (most of the time), Bora Ultra WTO wheels, Pirelli tyres, Deda cockpits, Prologo saddles, Look pedals, and SRM power meters.Looks fast, usually goes fast.Colnago launched the V3Rs back in 2019 as the Italian brand’s version of the “do-it-all” modern racer. It has made the C64 redundant at World Tour level and become the bike of choice for UAE riders across every terrain.Colnago is a legendary name in cycling.If it’s not already, this name is rapidly becoming legendary also.Team UAE-Emirates has changed tyre suppliers this year. Having raced with Vittoria for several seasons, the team has switched to Pirelli for 2022. Much like disc brakes, Pogačar has at times opted for tubeless tyres before swapping back to tubular. He now seems committed to tubeless for all bar the high mountain days. The P-Zeros were stamped 28 mm and measured 28 mm with our verniers.Those Pirellis are mounted to Campagnolo’s Bora Ultra WTO 45 mm rims.We saw that Pogačar raced with a lightweight seatpost (rumoured to be a Darimo) at the Tour last year in a bid to save every gram possible. He is now back on the regular Colnago seatpost. This change, amongst potentially others, has raised the weight of his 2022 bike for the Tour of Flanders to 7.4 kg.Prologo provides Pogačar with a custom Scratch saddle inspired by the Slovenian flag and the yellow jersey.Luxury watch brand Richard Mille keeps its place on the team’s stems.Deda supplies the Alanera one-piece integrated carbon cockpit. You’ll find no inward angled levers here; Pogačar likes his levers kept straight. At 38 cm, the bars might have been considered narrow a few years back, but that was before 27 cm-wide handlebars came along.Pogačar keeps it standard with his gearing also, sticking with 39/53T chainrings as seemingly half the peloton moves to 54s, and even 56s and 58s.Campagnolo rear derailleur, Campagnolo logo.Pogačar lost his head unit, but don’t worry, a photographer found it.The internal cable routing might be a pain for mechanics, but it does mean we get an unobstructed view of that classic Colnago club logo.Three Italian icons: Colnago, Deda, Campagnolo.The Colnago EPS V4 interface fits neatly in the bar end (or in a frame) and communicates in both Bluetooth and ANT+.Someone’s had the drill out! Campagnolo’s current production 12 speed cassettes do not feature this drillium-like weight reduction on the larger sprockets, which perhaps indicates a change to come.
Bike weight:
7.45 kg
Saddle setup:
Centre of the bottom bracket to centre of the saddle: 73 cm. Tip of the saddle behind the bottom bracket: 9 cm.
Handlebar setup:
Width at the drops: 38 cm Width at the hoods: 38 cm Tip of the saddle to centre of the handlebars: 58 cm Tip of the saddle to the levers: 70.5 cm Drop from top of the saddle to top of the handlebars: 10 cm
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