With Christmas on the horizon, if you're looking to buy a gift for a cyclist and you have very deep pockets, then we've got you covered. We've found Tadej Pogačar's actual time trial bike from the 2022 season for sale, courtesy of BikeRoom.
An Italian reseller of previous-seasons' WorldTour race bikes, BikeRoom has been around for a few years now, making a name for itself selling bikes from EF Pro Cycling, Team Cofidis, Astana Qazaqstan, Bike Exchange and more.
The latest addition to the store is a rare breed though, it's the Colnago TT1 time trial bike, first introduced at the 2022 Tour de France and raced by the Slovenian champion for the remainder of the season. It's one of just four models used by Pogačar, and as such, doesn't have a price tag.
Instead, the bike will be sold via auction, starting in a private sale on Monday, December 11, and being opened up to the public on December 12 before closing on December 18.
Naturally, the highest bidder will take home the bike, and a spokesperson from BikeRoom told Cyclingnews that the company expects the sale price to exceed €30,000. It's unlikely they'll be allowed to use the website's Black Friday promotional code BLACK10 for a discount.
Of the four bikes to exist, this is the only one that will go up for sale, as the other three have already found homes. The first, with Pogačar himself. The second, we're told, was bought by a likely-very-wealthy Saudi; and the third was bought by Richard Mille, the luxury watchmaking sponsor of the UAE Team Emirates team, whose watches fetch an average price of $200,000 and are commonly seen on the wrists of pro cyclists, Pogačar included.
For the price, the lucky winner of the auction will own a bike ridden in anger by Pogačar, although given he had a free choice of four identical time trial bikes and only raced two time trials after the bike's announcement, it's unclear at which race this particular bike will have been used, if any.
It could be the one he rode to 6th place at the World Championships in Wollongong in August, or it could be the bike he rode to 3rd at the Stage 20 Time Trial of the Tour de France. If we were the owners of the bike, we'd claim it was both.
Regardless of its mileage or the scalps it's taken, this bike is more a collector's item than anything else, complete with Campagnolo's Super Record EPS groupset and Bora Ultra / Ghibli wheels.
So while it would make for an unbelievable (and unbelievably expensive) gift for a cycling superfan, it probably isn't the Christmas gift to buy your aspiring time trial champion son or daughter for their training rides.
