Remco Evenepoel of Soudal Quick-Step spent the last three weeks in France racing on a shiny chrome S-Works Tarmac SL8. But finishing first in the Young Rider classification of the Tour de France along the Mediterranean coast over the weekend, Specialized rolled out a new white bike for Remco, too.
Take a closer look with us at Remco’s different chrome, black, and white Tarmacs.
Then, you get to pick which you like best!
White Jersey Winner Remco Evenepoel’s S-Works Tarmac SL8
We’ve featured a lot of Specialized S-Works Tarmac pro bikes over the years. Like Remco’s 2022 La Vuelta winning SL7 and then his World Champ edition SL7 a few months later.
And now, Specialized’s latest SL8 lays claim to being the lightest in the peloton – at just 685g for the top-tier carbon frame. We all know that paint adds weight. But if you are already starting so light, there’s probably of plenty of wiggle room within the UCI’s 6.8kg minimum.
It doesn’t hurt that Specialized also say the SpeedSniffer headtube design makes the SL8 more aero than their previous Venge. And that it gets a “33% greater stiffness:weight” and a claimed 6% boost of smoothness while in the saddle.
Remco Evenepoel is the fastest Young Rider at the 2024 Tour de France
We spotted both black & chrome and all-black bikes for Evenepoel at this year’s Tour. Plus, Specialized shared photos of a white one later on.
Besides white jerseys, the only thing white we really spotted on all of Remco Evenepoel’s bikes at the Tour was white bar tape.
So wait, how does the Tour de France’s Young Rider Classification work? Evenepoel is clearly young at 24. But he’s also no young up-and-coming newbie to the sport. He skipped racing as a U23 to go straight to the pro ranks, and has already won the 2022 World Championship on the road, 2023 TT Worlds, and the 2022 Vuelta a España.
But current Tour rules mean since he will still be under 26 on next January 1st, he’s still considered a Young Rider this summer. And it was his first Tour de France this year. Overall Yellow Jersey winner Tadej Pogačar is currently 25, but will be 26 in a couple months. But don’t lose sleep for Pogačar, he’s won the White Jersey a record 4x.
The #71 rider was most often seen racing on one of a couple of shiny chromed-out S-Works Tarmac SL8 bikes, though.
Not just black or chrome, underneath his S-Works Power Mirror saddle you can see some copper chrome.
It shows up at the bottom bracket and chainstays too, making for a very shiny and very reflective bike build.
A new Roval cockpit for Remco Evenepoel
Pretty much every other type we’ve profile Evenepoel’s Tarmacs, they’ve been fitted with a traditional 2-piece bar and stem setup from PRO.
But now with the latest S-Works Tarmac SL8, Evenepoel has adopted the lightweight 1-piece carbon Roval cockpit.
From our own testing, we’ve seen that the Roval Rapide cockpit comes in a broad 15 size range, that likely helped Evenepoel find the exact fit that he wanted.
It also has pretty slick integration with the team’s custom Wolfpack out-front GPS mounts made for them by K-Edge. And tidy cable integration that exists just under the stem, before tucking into the special upper headset bearing cap for easier adjustment by mechanics.
One more shiny detail… even Remco’s hubs are polished silver. Actually, it looks like most of the Soudal Quick-Step team bikes were sporting Roval wheels with silver hubs. Fingers crossed that Specialized might make that more of a mainstream product spec.
Project Black, is it light or is it a prototype?
Not all of Remco’s Tarmac SL8 bikes were chrome, though.
We didn’t really notice anything super secret on this bike. But Project Black is the name Specialized give to their prototype development projects, so do you spot anything we missed?
There was at least one spare bike ready to go on the roof of the car with a lighter build. Of course, less paint on this Project Black spare bike may have saved a couple of grams. But also those ultralight lower-profile 33mm deep Roval Alpinist wheels with light tires & tubes certainly help.
50th anniversary White Jersey S-Works Tarmac SL8 for Remco, too
Lastly, after the Tour finished. Specialized sent us some photos of a bike they made for Evenepoel, both commemorating his Best Young Rider classification in his first-ever Tour de France, but also Specialized’s own 50th anniversary.
“We’re excited to share beautiful images of the S-Works Tarmac SL8: Best Young Rider celebration bike we made for Remco Evenepoel. On his debut at the Tour de France, he takes home the white jersey for best young rider, a podium spot, as well as his stunning stage win Stage 7 TT win. Most importantly, he’s shown the world that he’s got the talent to mix it up with Jonas and Tadej at the for Tour victory in the future… We can think of no better way to celebrate Remco’s incredible debut Tour as well as mark our 50th year. Remco is showing he’s the future of road racing and we’re excited to continue innovating for Remco, and riders everywhere, to keep improving the ride!”
So which Remco 2024 Tour S-Works Tarmac SL8 bike do you prefer? Let us know in the comments.
