With the Vuelta a España about to head off from Monaco, Orbea has announced that each member of its sponsored Lotto-Intermarché team will ride a different custom-painted Orca Aero at the presentation the day before the official start.
The custom painted Orca Aero bikes are an opportunity for Orbea to showcase its MyOrbea Custom bike configuration programme, with each design created using the online platform. Orbea points out that any purchaser can choose the same colour combination and components as the pros.
There are four designs with a tinted visible carbon finish, while the other four have solid base colours, which Orbea says will create a stronger visual impact. They’re also likely to involve more paint and so be heavier; Look told BikeRadar its Iconic Prism paint scheme for the Tour de France weighed around 80g more than the raw black 795 Blade RS 3.
Here are the eight custom coloured bikes for the team:
The latest Orca Aero was launched just ahead of this year's Tour de France and has the widest tyre clearance of any pro bike at 37mm, which is as wide as allowed in road races under the UCI regulations. It's claimed to be 21 watts faster than the 2022 Orca Aero, once a rider is aboard, and one of the fastest bikes used by any pro team.
In part that’s due to a large, 78mm bottom bracket drop and a geometry that promotes positional stability and lowers the rider's frontal area. There’s a reduction in the frame’s frontal area too, as well as a keel at the bottom bracket.
The Lotto-Intermarché team will have a special kit for the Vuelta, to avoid confusion with the race leader’s red jersey. It’s a deeper pink/red colour than the usual Lotto-Intermarché jersey and Orbea says that the bikes’ paintwork has been chosen to match.
