The consummate Slovenian Tadej Pogačar is already in the lead of the Tour de France and there are few reasons to think he’ll be denied his second Grand Tour of the year.
Pogačar’s Colnago V4Rs is similar to that of his Giro d’Italia-winning bike, and the same frameset used at last year’s Tour de France. In recent years, Pogačar has revived the racing pedigree of the long-running Italian brand that previously supplied the bikes of Erik Zabel and Beppe Saronni.
The day before the Tour kicked off in Florence, Cyclist got up close with Pogačar’s potentially Tour de France-winning bike before it underwent a yellow makeover in the race.
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Tadej Pogačar’s Colnago V4Rs
Before the arrival of Pogačar, a Colnago-branded bike had never been ridden to Tour de France glory. Now the brand has two Tour wins to its name and this V4Rs is central to its hopes of making it three.
In a bullish product listing online, the Italian brand says the £11,000 bike is ‘built to win’ and has been ‘designed primarily for the pro riders’ at UAE Team Emirates and the women’s UAE Team ADQ squads.
Pogačar rides a size 48.5cm frame, which is what’s normally called a 54, and he’s reported to be 176cm tall.
Pogačar is using a custom-made Enve SES Pro Team One-Piece Handlebar, which is much the same as the very expensive Enve SES AR but with specific alterations for racing. Enve says the integrated bars 'prioritise stiffness, weight and aerodynamics to Pogačar’s specifications'.
Pogačar's 125mm stem is branded with the name of UAE Team Emirates's Swiss time-piece sponsor Richard Mille. As part of their collaboration, the team's riders are provided with a RM 67-02 watch, which retails at around £250,000.
However, the more visually arresting sticker on Pogačar's cockpit is his cartoon Hulk sticker the size of a £1 coin. I'll be honest, it looks like it was peeled from a children's comic sticker book from the 2000s, but it's a rare playful touch on the bike of the maillot jaune favourite.
Pogačar uses a Shimano Dura-Ace FC-R9200-P groupset, with 165mm cranks, though is running 55/40t Carbon-Ti chainrings.
For the Grand Départ, Pogačar was using Enve SES 4.5 wheels, which are 50mm deep at the front and 56mm at the back, and is using 25mm Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR tyres.
The team's mechanics informed us that Pogačar has a 72cm saddle height, and uses a Prologo Nago R4 147 saddle.
Weighing it on the ground in Florence, the bike came in at 7.3kg.
We will share more bikes from the 2024 Tour de France throughout the race. We will also be sharing videos of the bikes on our Instagram @cyclist_mag.
