uk sport, bike, gb, olympics, wiggins

The Great Britain men's road race team will line up on the Mall this Saturday not on the Pinarellos and Cervelos they've been riding all season, but on plain black UK Sports Institute bikes.

The five-man team that consists of Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, David Millar and Ian Stannard will ride road-going versions of the GB track bikes, designed with aerodynamics in mind.

Built by carbon expert and former sprinter Dimitris Katsanis, a version of these bikes was first used on the track back in 2002. They have been developed ever since, especially in the build up to the Beijing Olympics when Chris Boardman spent hundreds of man-hours in a wind tunnel in Southampton testing everything that could be tested.

The bike is stiff enough to harness the power of Sir Chris Hoy, yet aerodynamic with a low profile (see the low top tube) and minimal frontal area (see the narrow head tube and minimalistic forks).

The British team is going in to the race with the sole aim of delivering Mark Cavendish for the sprint and will also wear aero gear. They will ride the filled-in helmets that we've seen all season and likely some version of a skinsuit, rather than shorts and jersey.

The men's road race starts at 10am on The Mall on Saturday morning and will finish around 4pm.

 

Wiggins knows this bike well having ridden a version of it on the track to multiple medals



The 'winged' bars flow in to the stem. See how narrow the headtube is in comparison

UCI approved. Post Beijing the UCI said all bikes at the 2012 Olympics would adhere to their rules

The aim of an aerodynamic bike is to have minimal frontal area

 

The view Wiggins will have, whenever he glances down

 

Clean lines. The aim is to have as little as possible to disrupt airflow, even towards the rear

 

The narrow gauge forks designed to slice through the wind

 

A bottom bracket area stiff enough to harness the power of Sir Chris Hoy. That should be stiff then

Neat cabling to minimise disruption of airflow

Related links

Cycling Weekly's Olympic games coverage index

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Simon Richardson
Magazine editor

Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He fell in love with cycling 1989 when watching the Tour de France on Channel 4, started racing in 1995 and in 2000 he spent one season racing in Belgium. During his time at CW (and Cycle Sport magazine) he has written product reviews, fitness features, pro interviews, race coverage and news. He has covered the Tour de France more times than he can remember along with two Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He became the 130-year-old magazine's 13th editor in 2015.