In what’s either a) mind games or b) a taste of what’s to come in the Tour de France, Alberto Contador has said that Lance Armstrong is “just another member of the team” when it comes to the Astana squad for the Tour.
In the meantime, he’s been rockin’ a wildly painted Trek TTX time trial bike (click to enlarge) in the Dauphine Libere, perhaps taking some style cues from that other random guy on the team….or is it something else, like camouflage!
Dah, Dah, Daaaaaaahhhhh…
Read more to solve the mystery of the hideous paint job…
Much like the auto industry camouflages prototypes and new models during testing, it appears Trek may be borrowing the strategy for an upcoming TTX redesign…you know, to keep up with the Joneses (and Giant’s, Scott’s and Cervelo’s, for that matter…they’ve all recently introduced completely new time trial bikes).
The new bike looks to incorporate some unique traits, as well as taking advantage of the apparent gray areas in the UCI’s frame rules, like the aerodynamic structural/functional faring that comprises the external steerer tube.  The biggest feature looks to be the complete enclosure of the brakes.  Shown above, the front brake arms are completely within the body of the fork.  If you clicked on the full bike picture before the break, you’ll notice you don’t see either brake.
The rear is hidden within the chainstays or, more to the point, the caliper arms actually appear to be part of the frame.
VeloNews has a lot more pictures and speculation on this bike.  Look to see this bike under the Astana team riders in the Tour de France…hopefully with a better paint job.
