This article was originally published on Cyclingnews.com
Chris Froome continued his preparations for his Tour de France title defence at the Tour de Romandie in the Swiss Alps. Only in his third block of racing in 2017, Froome is equipped with a new frame, wheels and groupset for the season as he mounts a challenge for his fourth yellow jersey.
With only one more planned block of racing to go until July, Froome is using the Tour de Romandie as an opportunity to get a solid week of racing in ahead of Le Grand Boucle.
- Massive Tour de Romandie prologue tech gallery
- Team Sky wears 2018 Castelli rain jacket at Tour de Romandie
Launched at the 2016 edition of the Tour de France, Shimano's new Dura-Ace 9100 series groupset features on the Team Sky rider's bike. The 24mm deep carbon wheels feature subtle decals, which begin the theme of a generally blacked-out bike. The wheels are paired with Continental Competition ALX 25mm tubular tyres.
Pinarello also launched a new model of the Dogma frame towards the end of last year and was first raced at the Tour Down Under by Froome's teammates in January of this season.
The Dogma F10 draws design features such as the concaved downtube and tabs to the rear of the fork dropouts from the Pinarello Bolide and Bradley Wiggins' Pinarello Hour Record bike respectively. The combination of bladed, oversized carbon fibre tubing continues from the previous incarnation of the bike, the Dogma F8.
As Team Sky changed technical apparel suppliers after a four-year relationship with British brand Rapha, a new kit design from Castelli was borne and the design continues on the frame and forks of Chris Froome's bike. The dot/dash design represents all of the British team's victories since their inception, with the dots representing one-day victories, the dashes representing stage races and the blue and white colour scheme differentiating the WorldTour races.
Chris Froome's bike is equipped with Shimano's Dura-Ace 9150 electronic groupset. A gear combination of 52/38 chainrings and an 11-28 cassette is relatively normal for Froome, while the Team Sky leader is known to swap out his elliptical custom chainrings depending on the parcours of the race. The custom chainrings have become synonymous with Froome and the blacked-out parts don't have any branding.
The crankset is paired with a Stages power meter and completed with Dura-Ace 9100 carbon pedals.
Froome's cockpit consists of a 120mm Pro Vibe stem sat atop 15mm of carbon spacers. The 400mm handlebars are wrapped in PRO handlebar tape and a K-Edge out-front mount keeps Froome's computer in place.
Full specifications
Critical measurements
- Rider height: 1.86m / 6ft1in
- Rider weight: 69kg / 152lb
- Saddle height, from BB (c-t): 790mm
- Seat tube length (c-c): 560mm
- Tip of saddle nose to C of bars (at stem): 580mm
- Head tube length: 165mm
- Top tube length: 565mm
Complete bike specifications
- Front brake: Shimano Dura-Ace 9100
- Rear brake: Shimano Dura-Ace 9100
- Brake/gear levers: Shimano Dura-Ace 9150
- Front derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace 9150
- Rear derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace 9150
- Cassette: Shimano Dura-Ace 9100, 11-28T
- Chain: Shimano Dura-Ace
- Crankset: Shimano Dura-Ace with Stages power meter, 52/38T custom elliptical chainrings, 175mm crank length
- Bottom bracket: Shimano Dura-Ace
- Wheels: Shimano Dura-Ace 9100, 24mm
- Tyres: Continental Competition ALX tubular, 25mm
- Handlebars: PRO Vibe
- Stem: PRO Vibe, 120mm
- Headset: Pinarello Dogma F10
- Tape/grips: PRO
- Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace 9100
- Saddle: Fizik Antares
- Seat post: Pinarello Dogma F10
- Bottle cages: Elite Custom Race Plus
- Computer: Not photographed (Wahoo Elemnt Bolt)