Vincenzo Nibali and his Bahrain-Merida teammates lined up for stage three of the Tour de France in the team time trial in Cholet aboard new and unseen Merida time trial framesets.
Until today the Merida Time Warp TT hadn't been tested in a race scenario and it is understood it was only very recently approved by the UCI for racing — it doesn't appear on the UCI approved frames and forks list yet either.
The frameset features a complete overhaul from the existing Merida Warp TT frameset design, with the most obvious change being the oversized tubing junctions, which form triangular sections at the seat cluster, head tube cluster and bottom bracket area — a design that shares similarities with Canyon’s Speedmax frameset.
The frameset uses a Vision Metron Trimax carbon cockpit, with Nibali opting to use grip tape rather than handlebar tape on the base bars and handlebar extensions.
Shimano Dura-Ace R9150 components provided the shifting and braking for Nibali’s time trial setup, while an SRM Origin crankset with Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 series chainrings sat at the head of the drivetrain.
Photographed with 56/44 chainrings, like the majority of the peloton, Nibali used a 58-tooth outer chainring for the team time trial on stage three of the Tour.
Fulcrum carbon wheels were paired with 25mm Continental Grand Prix ALX tubular tyres and Nibali opted for a Prologo Dimension saddle.
Click or swipe through the gallery above for a closer look at the new time trial frameset from Merida.
Full specification
- Brakes: Merida Time Warp TT integrated
- Brake levers: Shimano Dura-Ace R9180
- Front derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace R9150
- Rear derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace R9150
- Shift levers: Shimano Dura-Ace R9160
- Cassette: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100, 11-30
- Chain: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100
- Crankset: SRM Origin with Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 chainrings, 56/44, 172.5mm cranks
- Rear wheel: Fulcrum Speed 360T
- Front wheel: Fulcrum Speed 55T AC3
- Tyres: Continental Grand Prix ALX, 25mm tubular
- Handlebars: Vision Metron Trimax carbon
- Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100
- Saddle: Prologo Dimension Nack
- Seatpost: Merida Time Warp TT
- Bottle cages: Elite Crono CX
- Computer: SRM PC-8 (not photographed)
Critical measurements
- Rider height: 1.81m
- Saddle height from bottom bracket (centre to top): 755mm
- Tip of saddle nose to centre of handlebars at stem: 600mm