The World Tour race season is now underway on the Santos Tour Down Below. A brand new 12 months means new gear and infrequently new bikes to check out, you possibly can keep on prime of all of the modifications for 2023 in our World Tour bikes and tech information.
Cofidis had been one in all two World Tour groups who modified body in addition to gear producers for this 12 months. The crew’s new Look bike was noticed within the wild not too long ago for the primary time after their change from Italian producer De Rosa.
We managed to snap Cofidis’ sprinter Bryan Cocquard’s new Look 795RS race bike earlier than the racing kicked off. Learn on for a more in-depth take a look at the make-up of the brand new Look bike.
Official particulars concerning the brand new Cofidis crew bike are scarce. The brand new 795RS has a clearly completely different body design to the presently listed 795 Blade RS which has been round for a short time now.
This new machine options dropped seat stays, a horizontal prime tube, a big backside bracket junction, a really brief headtube (In Cocquard’s dimension anyway), and wider extra aerodynamic fork legs. What appears to be like like a brand new Look one-piece handlebar and stem are additionally current.
Elsewhere the crew additionally switched from Campagnolo gear to Shimano and is now operating Shimano Dura-Ace 12speed R9200 di2 groupsets. French firm Corima gives the wheels, which on this case are carbon fibre tubular variations, while Michelin tyres full a French wheel bundle. Selle Italia gives the saddle while bottle cages are the Elite Leggero carbon fibre fashions.
Cofidis have chosen to not run Shimano’s personal Dura Ace 9200-P energy meter chain set, as a substitute plumping for the SRM-Origin carbon fibre energy meter chainset. The chain set axle itself is accessible in 24 and 30-mm variations, which aids body and backside bracket compatibility. This resolution should presumably be influenced by the ability meters themselves, as Dura-Ace chainrings are nonetheless mounted to the chainset spider.
A Look brand on the crank arms ties within the chainset with the remainder of the bike and retains issues on model. The chainset at first look appears to be like just like the Zed mannequin which Look produces in-house.
The tubular Corima wheels characteristic inside spoke nipples, which for the common consumer presents an issue if the wheel wants truing or a spoke wants changing. Stiff carbon wheels have a tendency to remain true but when a wheel wants truing it means the tubular tyre must be eliminated and re-glued. Professional mechanics will probably be very conversant in eradicating and re-fitting tubular tyres.
Cocquards bike is presently fitted with an 11-30t cassette, though the Dura-Ace rear mech can accommodate as much as a 34t sprocket for hillier races.
As is the norm for professional bikes, mechanics have fitted a reputation sticker to assist bike identification to the drive-side seat keep. The dropped seat stays on the bike look wider and extra angular, pointing to a particular concentrate on aerodynamics. The seatstays on the 795 Blade RS aren’t dropped and this is among the largest visible modifications to the brand new 795RS. This implies Look joins just about each different World Tour body producer in adopting dropped stays.
Cofidis, at the least in these pictures, look like operating tubular tyres. On this case Michelin Energy Competitors fashions in a 25mm dimension. The age of the tubular is not fairly over but as many groups change to tubeless setups.
These tyres do not look model new to us. Maybe the crew is but to obtain brand-new tyres for the race season and is on barely older wheels and tyres for these early season openers. Cofidis mechanics could have had lots of work to do that winter, with new frames, wheels and groupsets to obtain and construct up. Delivery gear throughout the globe to Australia is a expensive course of and maybe the crew did not have all of its new gear able to ship.
The non-drive aspect shot of the bike above gives a pleasant take a look at the burly backside bracket shell and junction space. The realm is fairly big to little question assist energy switch and enhance stiffness. That is one thing sprinter Cocquard ought to recognize when he is about to launch a dash.
You may as well spot on this shot some kind of code or merchandise quantity for the chainset spider written on in white marker pen. It additionally highlights the clearance between the sculpted seat tube and rear wheel which does not look tremendous shut, it is in all probability protected to say the body can accommodate tyres which might be bigger than 25mm.
