Spy shot: Cancellara's stealth time machine

4 comments
By Gary Boulanger, US editor | Wednesday, Apr 29, 2009 3.35am

Saxo Bank's Fabian Cancellara, reigning Olympic time trial champ and one of the best in the world against the clock, has been logging miles on an S-Works labelled machine.

Cancellara won the 2009 Tour of California prologue on a stock Specialized Transition, after winning nearly everything the past few years aboard his Cervelo time trial bikes. Specialized took over sponsorship of Bjarne Riis's team in 2009.

The bike in the photo resembles a cross between a Wasler, a German-made slippery machine used by Jan Ullrich and then the Gerolsteiner team, and a Giant model developed for Team Highroad in 2008. ScottUSA is reportedly working on a specific time trial design to meet the demands of Bob Stapleton's Team Columbia-Highroad, captained by George Hincapie and his merry band of riders, including sprint sensation Mark Cavendish.

According to Specialized's global public relations director Nic Sims, there's not a lot to say about Cancellara's new rig just yet. The front end of the bike in question doesn't appear to meet the strict standards of the International Cycling Union (UCI), but as Sims explained, it's early in the game.

Fabian cancellara (l) trains on the stealth time trial machine, with saxo bank teammate frank schleck on his specialized transition.: fabian cancellara (l) trains on the stealth time trial machine, with saxo bank teammate frank schleck on his specialized transition.

"We're using the team to test some new products," he told BikeRadar. "They may make it to production; we have yet to see, but is important that we get rider feedback early for development purposes."

As they say, a picture's worth a thousand words. Only time will tell what Cancellara and teammates Frank and Andy Schleck will use for the upcoming Grand Tours.

What do you think? Share your thoughts on the BikeRadar forum.

You can follow BikeRadar on Twitter at twitter.com/bikeradar and on Facebook at facebook.com/BikeRadar.

You might also like...

User Comments

There are 4 comments on this post

Showing 1 - 4 of 4 comments

Post a Comment:

You need to login or register to post comments.