Team Sky is a British professional cycling team founded in 2009, whose lofty goals included putting a British rider on the top step of the Tour de France podium within five years. They did it in three, courtesy of Bradley Wiggins in 2012, and pulled the double the following year with Chris Froome. Team Sky has been a fixture at the Tour Down Under ever since the race gained World Tour status, with many of its riders enjoying a break from the colder weather of the northern hemisphere.
The team has been synonymous with Pinarello bikes since its inception. Cicli Pinarello S.p.A. was founded in 1952 in Treviso, Italy. The original Pinarello Dogma was constructed from magnesium tubing, but it didn’t take long before the company discovered the virtues of carbon, and switched production to carbon fiber. The F8 marks the 8th generation of Dogma produced, a bike developed in conjunction with Team Sky and vehicle manufacturer Jaguar. This particular Team Sky Pinarello F8 is piloted by Peter Kennaugh, a Manx (Isle of Man) born professional cyclist with serious pedigree. His major victories include gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics for Great Britain in the team pursuit, and more recently, victory at the British National Road Race Championship. Here’s his championship bike…
A national champion deserves a special bike to signify the year they will spend wearing their country’s national colors on their jersey. Team Sky does not disappoint, recognizing Peter’s accomplishment with a simple but classy paint scheme that begins with a base color of white, accented by red and blue champion stripes and team and manufacturer / sponsor logos.
Team Sky is one of the many teams sponsored by Shimano, and like every other Shimano team at the 2016 Tour Down Under, their drivetrains are the all-electric, 11-speed Dura-Ace Di2.
Peter’s bike is fitted with Shimano’s satellite Di2 sprint shifters, very handy for sprinting from the drops.
Like many other team bikes spotted, Sky’s mechanics stick with the external Di2 junction A box, and use heat shrink tubing to guide the wiring along the rear brake housing until it enters left and behind the headtube. Simplicity and accessibility keep mechanics happy when they are on the road.
A made-in-the-USA K-Edge computer mount keeps Peter’s Garmin computer in easy range of sight.
Peter’s bike is fitted with Shimano’s 9000 series Dura-Ace crankset and 53 / 39 chainrings, with an 11-25 or 11-28 cassette on the rear wheel. Stages conntinues to supply the team with its power metering technology.
Shimano supply wheels to the team, with riders choosing from models such as the C35, C50 and C75. Wheel choice is dictated by course conditions, rider preference and overall bike weight.
Team Sky is another team supplied by Continental for their tires, but this version of the Competition tubular in 25mm width is the regular consumer version, and not the PRO LTD version that is so prevalent at the 2016 Tour Down Under.
Pinarello claims the Dogma F8 is 26.1% more aerodynamic than the Dogma 65.1, and 6.4% more aerodynamic when a cyclist is included in those numbers. The revised shapes of their Dogma frame tubes certainly help towards those improvements.
Pinarello have gone aero, but not all-out aero. The bike sticks with external caliper rim brakes, but utilizes design features like a Kammtail at the rear of the bike.
Extensive wind tunnel testing have proved to Pinarello that this shape is an optimal shape for downtube design. Pinarello’s F8 is proudly constructed from high quality T1100 1K carbon fiber.
Shimano’s reliable, dual-pivot Dura-Ace brake calipers, complete with race number mount behind the rear, simply get the job done.
Pinarello sticks with a 70mm Italian thread bottom bracket shell for the F8. External bottom bracket cups have been around a while, and are known for their simplicity of operation and maintenance.
Peter sits atop a Fizik Antares saddle, mounted to the Pinarello F8’s aerodynamic seatpost.
Rather than using electrical tape, Sky’s mechanics keep track of Peter’s seat height with team branded tape.
Elite Custom Race Plus cages have the chore of keeping water bottles in place on their Pinarello F8 Dogmas.
With the 2016 Tour Down Under well under way, Peter and his bike have already been quite active. With three stages still remaining, will Sky pull off a stage win? Perhaps Peter Kennaugh is Team Sky’s man for the job?
Photos and article by Gravel Cyclist.
Jayson O’Mahoney is the Gravel Cyclist: A website about the Gravel Cycling Experience.
