An unreleased version of Cervélo’s R5 climbing bike has been spotted by BikeRadar at the 2025 Tour de France Grand Départ in Lille.
While much of the focus in recent weeks has been on what appears to be a new S5 aero bike, the Canadian brand admits the new R5 was hiding in plain sight at this year’s Criterium du Dauphiné.
Claimed to be capable of hitting the UCI’s minimum bike weight limit of 6.8kg ready-to-ride, the new R5 doubles down on weight savings and ride quality.
Spotted at the Visma–Lease a Bike team hotel, ahead of the 2025 Tour de France, the bike we saw belonged to Matteo Jorgenson, the team’s American rising-star.
Let’s take a look at what’s changed for this latest version of Cervélo’s iconic climbing bike – and reveal how much a pro-spec build actually weighs.
Lighter everywhere
While we still believe aero bikes will dominate the opening part of the 2025 Tour de France, the second half of this year’s race is packed with climbing – including a mountain time trial on stage 13.
With this in mind, Cervélo has given the R5 an even purer focus on weight than before, aiming to have it hit the UCI’s 6.8kg limit with all the accessories needed to make it race-ready (such as pedals, bottle cages, bike computer mounts and so on).
The new R5 retains its classic silhouette and Cervélo’s signature squoval (square-oval) aero tube shapes – because unlike the Specialized S-Works Aethos, the R5 remains a designated ‘race bike’ – but the brand nevertheless says “every single piece [of the bike] has been changed”.
The tube shapes of the frame, fork and seatpost have all been slimmed down, for example.
According to the brand, the pencil-thin seat stays are designed to be slimmer than the UCI’s minimum tube thickness of 10mm when unpainted, with the knowledge a coat of lightweight paint will add the required extra millimetre.
The R5’s fork no longer flows as smoothly into the down tube, as it did previously.
It’s possible there’s an aerodynamic penalty for this, but Cervélo said no stone was left unturned in the pursuit of cutting weight.
This included remodelling the fork brake mounting area. Bolts now go straight through the front of the fork and directly into the brake caliper.
According to Cervélo, this change negates the need for a flat mount brake adaptor, and for a threaded insert inside the fork. This saves around 30g of weight.
The brand has also developed a new one-piece integrated handlebar for the new R5.
It features an aerodynamic profile but also contributes to the goal of saving weight, through the elimination of unnecessary hardware at the stem clamp and the use of a more traditional shape compared to the S5's cockpit.
Scores on the doors
While some Tour de France teams are cautious about letting us weigh their bikes, Visma-Lease a Bike was more than happy for us to do so.
All-in, including two (empty) water bottles, Jorgenson’s new Cervélo R5 weighed 7.03kg, according to our scales – just 200g more than the UCI weight limit.
Remove the empty water bottles, as the team would if the bike were put on the weighing scales by the UCI (water bottles and computers don't count towards the weight limit), and this would surely be very close to 6.8kg.
The bike we saw was a size 58cm, set up with mid-depth Reserve 42/49 wheels and 29c Vittoria Corsa Pro ‘Wide Rim Optimised’ tubeless tyres.
Jorgenson’s bike featured a SRAM Red AXS groupset – the lightest electronic road bike groupset with disc brakes until recently (when Campagnolo launched its new Super Record 13 groupset) – in 2x form, with a 54/41t crankset and a wide-ranging 10-36t cassette out back.
Notably, the bike was also specced with 165mm cranks – an extremely short crank length for a rider as rangy as Jorgenson (the American is reportedly 190cm-tall).
In contrast, Jorgenson had a lengthy stem measuring around 150mm, paired with a relatively narrow, 380mm wide handlebar (measured centre-to-centre at the brake hoods).
Jorgenson’s bike was completed with Tacx Ciro bottle cages, a Prologo Nago C3 saddle, Wahoo Speedplay Aero pedals and a tiny Garmin Edge 130 bike computer (clearly the weight weenie’s choice).
As in last year's Tour, Jorgenson's bike also had a waxed chain for improved cleanliness and drivetrain efficiency.
Additional weight savings could doubtless be found with a 1x drivetrain or a shallower set of wheels, should Jorgenson wish the shed every last possible gram.
Even a simple swap to Vittoria’s time trial-specific Corsa Pro Speed TLR tyres would save around 90g (per pair of tyres) – which we’ve no doubt he’ll do if he uses this bike for the Tour’s mountain TT on stage 13.
Specs | Matteo Jorgenson’s new Cervélo R5 for the 2025 Tour de France
- Frameset: Cervélo R5
- Groupset: SRAM Red AXS
- Wheelset: Reserve 42/49
- Power meter: SRAM Red AXS
- Tyres: Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR, 700x29c
- Handlebar: Cervélo integrated, 150x380mm
- Seatpost: Cervélo R5
- Saddle: Prologo Nago C3
- Bottle cages: Tacx Ciro
- Pedals: Wahoo Speedplay Aero
- Weight: 7.03kg
