After soloing to victory with such flamboyant style at the 2021 World Championship road race in Leuven, Belgium, it was naturally only a matter of time until Julian's Alaphilippe's win was commemorated in a custom paint job on his Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7.
The bike gets its debut today at the Milano–Torino semi-Classic – preparation for the final Monument of the season, the ‘race of the falling leaves’, Il Lombardia.
But now let’s take a look at what Specialized’s senior graphic concept designer, Tom Briggs has whipped up for Alaphilippe.
Explaining the thought process behind the paint, Briggs said: “The [bike was] inspired by the swirling storm of competition. That moment when all of the rider’s effort is being put into the pedals. Their vision starts to blur and their eyes cross."
“If you look at the World Champ top tube logo it’s offset as though their vision was starting to see double."
(Image credit: Deceuninck–Quick-Step)
That notion of a "storm of competition" extends into other elements of the paintwork.
On first glance, you might assume that the almost random waves and channels that texture the tubes are the result of a raw carbon finish displaying its imperfections through a very thin coat of paint.
Instead, these irregular ripples have been created by hand, wrapping the tubes in plastic to disturb the paint and represent the “swirling of thoughts, emotions, training and everything else that goes into that one singular moment of glory as they become the world champion.”
(Image credit: Deceuninck–Quick-Step)
But it’s the front of the bike where the stamp of the world champ is really made known, with a beautiful fade between the colours of that coveted jersey.
With the continuing subtle, swirling patterns, and the almost metallic finish, Alaphilippe’s SL7 has been given a very distinctive flair.
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Click right for more(Image credit: Deceuninck–Quick-Step)
(Image credit: Deceuninck–Quick-Step)
(Image credit: Deceuninck–Quick-Step)
Although it seems that even winning the World Championships isn’t sufficient to bump you up the order list for new Dura-Ace – this SL7 is still spec’d with the now five-year-old R9100 series and its mere 11-speed cassette.
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After winning the 2019 National Single-Speed Cross-Country Mountain Biking Championships and claiming the plushie unicorn (true story), Stefan swapped the flat-bars for drop-bars and has never looked back.
But his favourite rides are multiday bikepacking trips, with all the huge amount of cycling tech and long days spent exploring new roads and trails - as well as histories and cultures. Most recently, he’s spent two weeks riding from Budapest into the mountains of Slovakia.
