Trek Madone Disc spotted at Criterium du Dauphine

This article first appeared on Cyclingnews.

Trek’s aero-specific frameset, the Madone, has been spotted in a disc brake version for the first time at the Critérium du Dauphiné in France.

• New Specialized aero bike spotted at Criterium du Dauphine
• Criterium du Dauphine: time trial tech gallery

The Trek-Segafredo team had three riders on the new bike for stage 1 of the race, starting in Valence and five for stage 2 from Montbrison to Belleville, allowing Cyclingnews to capture this exclusive gallery of images.

While there doesn’t seem to be wholesale changes to the overall design or aesthetic of the Madone, the implementation of disc brakes does mean that the fork and stays need reinforcing and these chunkier areas are the most obvious design updates relative to the rim brake version of the bike.

The disc brake located on the front of the bike also results in the Madone no longer needing the unusual and possibly model-defining spring-loaded hinge in the head tube, which allowed movement for the proprietary front brake when steering but retained aerodynamic design and performance.

Also at the front end of the bike, Trek appear to have produced a new carbon, aerodynamic cockpit to complement the new frameset. The new cockpit is likely to accommodate the hydraulic brake hoses associated with the Shimano Dura-Ace R9170 disc brake groupset but still retaining aerodynamic performance at the front end of the bike and the frontal area of the cockpit certainly suggests this.

As with several other recent aero-specific carbon cockpits, the handlebar tops feature a low-profile flat section left unwrapped, while the drops are wrapped in black handlebar tape as opposed to the usual white used by Trek-Segafredo. The integrated cockpit system looks to have a cap at the centre of the stem that can be accessed via four bolts on the underside of the system for maintenance or setup.

Towards the rear end of the bike, the semi-integrated, flexing seat post is retained from its rim brake predecessor as is the two-bolt tensioning system on the rear side.

Ahead of the Tour of Flanders in April, Trek’s component company launched the Bontrager XXX range of carbon wheels and the new Madone Disc framesets were paired with the deep-rim Bontrager Aeolus XXX 6 with Shimano Dura-Ace rotors at Critérium du Dauphiné.

With the Tour de France just a few weeks away and major brands launching new models in time for the European bike show season, Cyclingnews has spotted several new bikes and components at the French stage race. Alongside the new Trek Madone Disc, an updated aero frameset from Specialized was also spotted at the race underneath riders from Quick-Step Floors and Bora-Hansgrohe.

A spokesperson for Trek said they were not yet able to comment on the new bike.