Marcel Kittel’s custom-painted Specialized Venge

Tasteful splashes of color adorn the Etixx-Quick Step sprinter's aero bike

Nick Legan

Published: July 4, 2016 at 7:01 am

German sprinting powerhouse Marcel Kittel is on a mission to add to his eight Tour de France stage victories. To do so he’ll need the help of his Etixx-Quick Step teammates, but for an added boost Specialized produced a custom painted Venge aero road bike. Working directly with Kittel on his preferred colors and aesthetic, the result is a beautiful bike with vicious intentions.

Marcel Kittel's Specialized S-Works Venge ViAS

Small details dot the frame, fork, dropouts, saddle and even the cutout on the down tube, there to clear the integrated front brake. While much of Kittel’s bike is what you’d expect to see on any Etixx-Quick Step team bike, with Dura-Ace Di2 and Roval wheels, the bar and stem are noteworthy.

Kittel, like others in the peloton, loves Zipp's Sprint SL stem, here in a 12cm. Team mechanics though have blacked out logos as Zipp is not a sponsor. Seen here is also a new headset cap for the Venge that Specialized is producing for riders not using the integrated ViAS bar/stem - Nick Legan

Because the German likes to use the same handlebars on both his Tarmac and Venge race bikes, his ViAS foregoes the normal integrated bar and stem. Instead an unbranded Zipp Sprint SL stem holds his preferred FSA Energy Compact bar.

This does mean that the cables aren't hidden and therefore the bike is a tad slower aerodynamically. Surely, we’ll see if the tradeoff was worth it for Kittle in the opening stages of this year’s Tour de France.

This website is owned and published by Our Media Ltd. www.ourmedia.co.uk
© Our Media 2023