Peter Sagan needs little introduction – two time and current World Champion, even a Junior Mountain Bike World Champion back in 2008. Along with these and many other wins and accomplishments, Peter is a rider with serious skills and charisma on and off the bike. To kick off 2017, Peter returns to Adelaide, South Australia and the Tour Down Under, the race where he made his Pro Tour debut with Liquigas way back in 2010. Disc brakes are being re-introduced into the World Tour this year, and many teams are experimenting with the technology. Peter Sagan has a disc brake Venge at his disposal, which he has used during training in Adelaide, and may or may not see action when the race starts? It gets the same custom deeply shiny paint job we saw on his rim brake a couple of weeks back.
Click on through for more about the bike…
The gold treatment of the Venge name on the top tube is a clue to what may be in store for this bike.
The Bora Hansgrohe mechanics have two pairs of gold painted Roval CLX 64 wheelsets, which were being glued for tires when I took these photographs.
Unfortunately, the mechanic could not confirm if the wheels would be used, but I suspect they may appear at the People’s Choice Classic, a circuit race through the streets of Adelaide that precedes the Tour Down Under proper.
No matter your thoughts on these wheels, they draw a crowd…
At the heart of these special wheelsets are Centerlock compatible Roval hubs.
The tires being glued to those gold wheels – Specialized branded Turbo Cotton, 700c x 24mm, 320TPI.
Super clean front end, even with the Shimano Di2 hydraulic brake system installed.
However, we expect the Venge isn’t exactly a joy to work on with its complex system for internalized cable routing.
Only the computer on Peter’s bike juts out into the wind.
Very clean routing of the front brake hydraulic cable.
Absolutely no sign of the brake line from the front end of the bike – there was no binding when I rotated the handlebars on the bike.
Flat-mount 160mm rotor up front and DT Swiss RWS thru-axle.
Curious mix of sizes with a flat-mount 140mm rotor at the rear and 142mm x 12mm thru-axle with DT Swiss RWS thru-axle.
The discreet cable routing extends to the rear of the bike.
Bora joins Quick-Step Floors as another team running the 4iiii power meter technology on an older Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 series crankset.
Naturally, a professional level team runs the Precision Pro version of the 4iiii system… and Peter uses 172.5mm long cranks.
Thus far, I’ve only spotted one complete bike at the 2017 Tour Down Under fitted with the Shimano Dura-Ace 9170 Di2 system, and it isn’t Peter Sagan… more on that later (hint: it’s the bike of Geraint Thomas of Sky.) 11-25 11-speed cassettes are the norm across many bikes at the race.
The trusty 11-speed Dura-Ace 9070 front derailleur.
The Venge is a fast looking rig no matter the angle it is viewed from.
Peter perches atop a Specialized Body Geometry Romin EVO saddle.
Tacx Deva carbon bottle cages keep Peter’s bottles in place.
For wondering, Peter’s disc brake Venge weighs approximately 8.42 kilograms / 18.5 pounds.
Article and photos by Gravel Cyclist. Jayson O’Mahoney is the Gravel Cyclist: A website about the Gravel Cycling Experience.
