Astana’s bikes for the 2018 Giro D’Italia were fairly straightforward, racing the Gallium Pro for the regular days and the E-118Next TT bike for time trial stages. Parts are a mix of FSA cranks with Power2Max power meters, Shimano Dura-Ace, Corima wheels and others. One of their more interesting team sponsors is Velosophe, the true cyclist’s beer.
Look pedals are also a sponsor.
Only some of their bikes had the CeramicSpeed pulley upgrade.
And some of the TT bikes were running Corima’s tri-spoke front, and some their paired spoke design. What’s interesting is that Corima’s website now only lists tri-spoke and rear disc wheels in thru axle, disc brake variants, not rim brake models. At the moment, though, Argon18 does not make any disc brake TT or triathlon bikes, but their top of the line E119 tri bike does look more advanced than this E118Next TT bike, so perhaps we’re due for an update.
K-Edge mounts were everywhere.
Electrical tape = incremental gains. Check out the team website here.
Bahrain-Merida Pro Bike Checks
Bahrain-Merida’s Warp TT bikes used Fulcrum Speed wheels with the pro-only Continental tubulars and FSA Vision bars and extensions.
Because of the sometimes convoluted routing required to keep brake cables out of the wind, TT brakes are not always the most powerful…or they suffer from cable drag that can slow performance. Here, the team put springs between the caliper’s cable entry and bolt points to help pop them open. Because the last thing you want when racing the clock is brake drag.
Shimano Di2 groups leave the cable holes unused.
SRM power meters with the Look-made carbon crank arms were paired with an otherwise Dura-Ace system.
The team had two bikes at their disposal for the road stages. The Reacto aero bike for longer flat days helped save drag.
As did deeper wheels.
The Scultura subbed in for climbing stages to save weight…or the riders just picked whichever bike they liked better.
Capturing the Di2 wire inside the junction box’s strap seems like a clever way to keep it tidy. Check their team website out here.
Check out every team’s bikes from the 2018 Giro here!
