At first glance, the new 2023 Cervelo S5 isn’t radically different looking than its predecessor. But with the UCI updating its rules about tube dimensions and ratios, they’re joining the fray of brands taking full advantage of the new aerodynamic opportunities.
Combined with the new Reserve 52/63 aero wheels, they say the system drops a whopping 65g of drag. And they did this while increasing total surface area, yet also making it lighter.
The result? The bike helps Wout van Aert take a commanding (and modern-day record-breaking) points lead in this year’s Tour de France, capturing an impressive 480 points in the Points Classification. Oh, and Jumbo Visma rode Cervelos to three overall category wins, with Jonas Vingegaard capturing the Yellow and Polka Dot jerseys, and van Aert taking Green.
Jonas’ bike shows his name as play on words -Jonas Vinder Gult- which translates in his native language to “Jonas Wins Yellow”. You can buy that as a T-shirt on the team shop.
The biggest changes are slightly deeper head tube and bottom bracket area, but even the seat- and down-tubes look a bit deeper. They also made the trailing edges’ shaping “a bit more aggressive”, and cleaned up the dropouts since the bike is now only compatible with electronic shifting drivetrains.
The downtube has three bottle cage bolts, letting you run a single bottle lower, or move it up to make room for a seat tube bottle. Interesting that they’ve covered and painted over the Vindegaard’s lower mount…because marginal gains.
Wout’s bike still has the lower bolt.
The fork is still the single-piece design with a front fairing, using an hourglass shape. The legs are deeper, particularly at the top, with slight tweaks to the way it fits with the wheels to optimize aerodynamics around modern, wider tires and rims.
In fact, the new bike is compatible with up to 700x34mm (measured) tires, but will come with 28mm tires installed.
The V-Stem is updated to use a single bolt length, and all spacers come with the bike, making it easier to adjust your position. It’s also 53g lighter, and has a better flats-to-hoods shaping and the ability to adjust the angle from 0º to 5º.
Not shown, the bikes now come with a 15mm offset seatpost. Prior models came with a 25mm offset that could be reversed for an extremely forward position. Those posts will still be sold separately and will fit this bike, too.
Wout van Aert’s bike above, and the ones you can actually buy, below.
The top models come with either Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 (above) or SRAM Red eTap AXS (below) and retail for $13,000.
Force eTap AXS and Ultegra Di2 bikes are both $9,000, and framesets are available for $5,500 in additional colorways.
