Tadej Pogačar rides stunning custom Colnago to celebrate his imminent Giro d’Italia victory

Details of Tadej Pogacar's custom Colnago V4RS made to celebrate his Giro d'Italia win.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) has excelled at the Giro d’Italia by any measure, leading the race by 7:42, and so it’s no wonder that he is set to ride a commemorative victory bike one stage ahead of the final procession into Rome.

Repainted bikes have become a convention for any Grand Tour winner, usually used as a tool to market their flagship offering (sometimes one not ridden predominantly by that athlete in the race) and typically ridden on the final stage of a Grand Tour. 

Colnago will have been thrilled to put together an unusually intricate custom design V4RS for Pogačar, as the brand has seen its own gravity-defying Pogačar premium as the Italian bike builder posted exceptional annual results against a context of many bike brands seeing their revenue plummet.

Pogačar - number 1 (Image credit: Colnago)

Tadej Pogačar's stunning Colnago V4RS side-on ahead of stage 20 of the Giro d'Italia (Image credit: Colnago)

The Colnago logo emblazoned on Pogačar's headtube (Image credit: Colnago)

Pogačar's Richard Mille personal sponsorship features on his stem (Image credit: Colnago)

Sprint shifters are an interesting choice for the climbing sensation (Image credit: Colnago)

(Image credit: Colnago)

Pogačar's Prologo Nago R4 (Image credit: Colnago)

(Image credit: Colnago)

(Image credit: Colnago)

(Image credit: Colnago)

(Image credit: Colnago)

(Image credit: Colnago)

Decals tell the story of Pogačar's dominant Giro d'Italia (Image credit: Colnago)

Pogačar's V4RS has been preserved in all its race-ready glory, fully equipped for the savage Monte Grappa double of stage 20. 

Keen tech heads will immediately spot all the unique flourishes of Pogačar's bike build. His unique Carbon-Ti 55 x 40 chainring, equipped with eyebrow-raising 165mm cranks, has already stood out as a unique technical choice for his Grand Tour campaign, and is being employed in this custom build.

His Enve Richard Mille-emblazoned stem has been delicately rebranded, but it's the wheelset and saddle where the real love has been invested in this custom design.

Pogačar's Prologo Nago R4 is a switch from his often-used Scratch M5, and here has striking etchings of career victories (Image credit: Colnago)

Look closely and you’ll see that Pogačar's Prologo Nago R4 has been etched with his race wins throughout his career - confidently already showcasing the Giro d’Italia amongst his palmares.

The Enve SES 4.5 wheelset has seen the logo recoloured but also illustrated with highlights from the 2024 Giro d’Italia.

Decals tell the story of Pogačar's dominant Giro d'Italia  (Image credit: Colnago)

Indeed the sole component left untouched has been the groupset, his Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 group complete with satellite sprint shifters remains in stock colours.

All together the build represents an unusually intricate and well-thought-out tribute to Pogačar's Giro campaign, but with the Slovenian having seized the malai rosa on stage 2 with no sign of challenge since then, the brands admittedly had time to plan.