UK road bike time trial champion George Fox has warned that his next competition road bike is likely to look even more outlandish than the one that caused so much controversy at last year's National Road Bike Time Trial Championship.
In a post on social media he sent out the cheeky and slightly cryptic caution over the top of an image of his Argon 18 E119 championship-winning machine: "You thought this one was bad… see you very soon".
Fox had to wait seven weeks to be crowned champion after the race back in April, after governing body Cycling Time Trials (CTT) received complaints about his bike and position.
Both were eventually judged to have broken no rules, but it is anticipated that CTT will move to further clarify road bike regulations at its AGM this weekend.
With that mind Fox's post was also designed as a fond farewell to his bike. Speaking to Cycling Weekly, he anticipated that frames marketed for time trial / triathlon use would be banned.
"One of the biggest things that we've seen most people unhappy about, I think it's fair to say, is the frame, and the fact it's the tri[athlon] frame," he said. "Certainly from a performance and aerodynamics point of view, it makes very little difference. I tested it, and I know how small those differences are, but obviously visually there's a lot of people unhappy about it. So a ban on TT or tri frames is one of the things I'm almost certain will pass."
As well as a potential ban on dedicated TT frames, it seems likely that a new rule banning any resting of the forearms on any part of the bar – something Fox and others put to good use at the championship last year.
Fox, who also set a new fastest time for 10 miles on a road bike in 2023, has become well known – some might even say notorious – for his envelope-pushing.
But the Midlander argues that to win in the modern age, some sort of optimisation is going to be necessary – and that whatever the new rules entail, there will be those who continue to push the limits.
"Time trials aren't won on passion anymore, they're won on science," he said. "And that's at any level of the sport, whether it's the Nationals or the Wobbly Wheelers 10. Because the person that wins now will have done a good job in terms of the optimisation of the set-up.
"So regardless of what those rules become," he adds, "there will be somebody still looking almost outside of the box."
And that view is embodied in the cheeky warning about the new bike. Whatever the rules are changed to, Fox insists he is planning on going even faster in 2025, so it is unlikely that the edges of that envelope will remain untouched.
"The rules, which we will know after this weekend, will have to change my approach, because I won't be able to do the same thing again," he concedes. "Which will mean that if they thought last year's bike and set-up looked different to what they're anticipating, I will still want to go quicker this year. I'm a bike racer. I have the record – it may be an unofficial record but I still have it.
He added: "The set-up will probably have to look different, and maybe look more different than what they saw last year. I'd be very surprised if it looked like a normal road bike. That is the simple way of putting it really."
The CTT will vote whether to pass new rules – and what they will be – this Sunday, January 26 – watch this space to find out exactly what they will be.
