We’ve been running through the pro bikes at the Tour de France and last week it was the turn of Peter Sagan’s Specialized S-Works Venge. Ready for the stage one sprint finish, it was kitted out with a 54/42 chainset and sprint shifters, although how useful those were on the Muur van Geraardsbergen we’re not sure.
Big gears for Sagan
Likewise, if Sagan fancies a trip to north Wales, it would be heavy going on Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech – now officially the steepest street in the world with a peak gradient of 37.45%.
Although he might decide to bring his S-Works Turbo Creo SL. Spesh’s new road e-bike was launched last week and Sagan’s got one. As well as the road version, weighing 12.2kg, there’s a gravel option. Both have a 130km range, with another 60km on tap if you plug in the optional bottle cage battery extender.
The extra juice is for your bike, not for you
Better not bring your Turbo Creo SL to a race though – we had news of two amateur riders who fled a race in Italy before the police arrived, after their motors were spotted by fellow competitors.
Cannondale’s new CAAD13 and Cervélo’s new gravel bike
If you missed it, you’ll want to catch up on July’s Tech of the Month video. It features the new Cannondale SuperSix Evo, as well as Sagan’s new sunnies, new Garmins and new wheels with CeramicSpeed bearings.
In bike launch news, hot on the heels of the SuperSix Evo comes the alloy Cannondale CAAD13. The CAAD13 has more than a passing resemblance to its carbon big brother, including the same aero tube profiles and dropped seatstays.
Alloy goes aero - the new CAAD13
Colnago also has a new aero road bike out this week. The V3Rs gets a similar profile to the CAAD13 with dropped seat stays, kammtail tube profiles and an integrated cockpit on the disc brake version. It's dropped weight from its predecessor, got stiffer and takes 28mm tyres too.
Ernesto unveils his latest aero bike
And Cervélo has a go-faster gravel bike out. Called the Aspero, it’s designed not for load lugging, but for speed over rough terrain. It features a fork with variable trail for more consistent handling when you swap from 700c to 650b wheels.
Cervélo hits the gravel, fast, with the new Aspero
Lezyne announced an update to its sharply priced mid-range GPS units too last week. They have enhanced features, better screen resolution and can be mounted in either landscape or portrait mode on your bars, giving you more options on how to display your data.
Also last week, we had deals from Wiggle’s summer sale, plus more deals from Sunday Trading, so you can get your bike and your kit looking that bit more pro for the summer.
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Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.
He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.
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