Primož Roglič started the 2025 Tour de France as Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe’s team leader.
But with Florian Lipowitz riding high in the first two weeks and in a podium position, as well as leading the best young rider competition, it will be interesting to see how Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe play out the remainder of the third week.
When a younger rider looks as if he will eclipse the team leader, this has in the past resulted in friction – think Hinault vs LeMond at the 1986 Tour and Wiggins vs Froome in 2012.
So far, this doesn’t seem to be the case at Red Bull - Bora - hansgrohe, with the two riders’ comments to the press suggesting Roglič is content to play the role of elder statesman to his younger teammate, unless their form and results change during the third week.
On the evidence of yesterday's stage to Mont Ventoux, Roglič looks to have made good on an adopted support role as he and Lipowitz aim to outwit (and outgun) Oscar Onley.
At age 35, and with four wins at the Vuelta a España and one at the Giro d’Italia in his palmarès, maybe Roglič is resigned to never adding a Tour de France yellow jersey?
7.00kg bike weight
Roglič rides the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8, with Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe one of two teams, along with Soudal Quick-Step, using the Tarmac at this year’s Tour.
We weighed Roglič’s bike at 7kg on the button. That’s almost 200g lighter than Remco Evenepoel's S-Works Tarmac SL8 – slightly surprising given the base bike and the majority of the spec is the same between the bikes ridden by Roglič and Evenepoel, who abandoned the race on stage 14.
Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe is running SRAM Red AXS rather than Soudal Quick-Step’s Shimano Dura-Ace, though. SRAM claimed its groupset was lighter than Shimano's when it was launched, so perhaps that’s the reason. Or maybe it's Evenepoel's gold paint.
Roglič’s bike was set up with a 2x crankset with 54/41-tooth chainrings and a 10-36t cassette ahead of the Grand Départ in Lille. That gives him quite a wide range.
His 170mm crank length follows the pro trend for shorter crank lengths and matches his high-cadence riding style.
In contrast, both Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert had 1x SRAM groupsets on their bikes when we saw them in Lille and van Aert continued to run 1x until the race hit the high mountains.
Roglič is using the Roval Rapide one-piece bar and stem in the narrowest 380mm width, complete with slightly turned-in levers. His 120mm stem length is comparatively short by pro standards. He has a pair of SRAM’s Blips satellite shifters on the drops, just below the brake levers.
Despite the SRAM drivetrain, Roglič is riding with Shimano Dura-Ace pedals. SRAM has its own pedals, having bought out the Time pedal business, but at present it’s only the Lidl-Trek and Movistar teams that use Time pedals, although there are six teams riding the Tour with SRAM groupsets.
That’s slightly surprising, because Time’s Xpro 12SL pedals weigh a claimed 174g a pair, against 228g a pair for Dura-Ace. That’s a handy weight saving and they’re potentially more aero, too.
Roval Rapide CLX III wheels and unreleased Turbo Cotton tyres
Like Evenepoel, Roglič is using the recently launched Roval Rapide III wheelset, which has a claimed 1,305g weight thanks to a revised carbon layup, new carbon spokes with titanium end pieces and a deeper front than rear wheel.
The new wheels are complemented by the same as-yet-unreleased Specialized Turbo Cotton tyres as on Evenepoel’s bike, in Roglič’s case in 30mm width. Despite the labelled width, we found that the tyres were a little narrower: 29.05mm at the front and 28.27mm at the rear.
S-Works Phenom saddle
Finally, there’s an S-Works Phenom saddle, not the latest 3D-printed version, but the older Phenom with a standard saddle top. It's been discontinued by Specialized, although Roglič’s saddle looks box-fresh.
More from the Tour de France
Specs | Primož Roglič’s Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8 for the 2025 Tour de France
- Frameset: S-Works Tarmac SL8, FACT 12R carbon
- Groupset: SRAM Red AXS, with 10-36t cassette
- Wheelset: Roval Rapide CLX III
- Power meter: SRAM Red AXS, 54/41t, 170mm cranks
- Tyres: Unreleased Specialized S-Works Turbo Cotton, 700x30c
- Handlebar: Roval Rapide Cockpit
- Seatpost: Tarmac SL8
- Saddle: Specialized S-Works Phenom
- Bottle cages: Tacx Deva
- Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace
- Weight: 7.00kg
