Tadej Pogačar sprinted to a commanding victory on stage 3 of the UAE Tour on Wednesday. The World Champion, resplendent in his white rainbow skinsuit, beat Oscar Onley and Felix Gall to the line.
We already spotted Pogačar using what looks to be a new Enve wheel in yesterday's individual time trial, and have spotted a few more curious details on the Slovenian's striking new Colnago Y1Rs aero bike today.
First up are the Enve SES 6.7 wheels, they have silver hubs and spokes that are visibly different to the ones used by his teammates and look to be the same as the front wheel setup he used in yesterday's time trial. This could be a new wheelset being developed by Enve, or at least a test for a new wheel hub and spoke configuration.
UAE Emirates-XRG has an exclusive partnership with Shimano, but riders were still seen using Carbon-Ti carbon fibre chainrings, like last year. Pogačar was using some customised ones that can be seen below.
Finally, we spotted some insulated bottles from team partner Elite, which we assume to help keep drinks colder for longer under the hot UAE sun and help manage Pogačar's core temperature.
Pogačar's Enve spokes and hubs at this race are silver, clearly standing out from his teammates'. Enve SES wheels are generally specced with Sapim CX Ray spokes, which are stainless steel, the wheels also feature internal spoke nipples which provide a small aero saving.
We don't know whether these new spokes are different in some way or are simply slightly lighter than the regular black ones. This was the case with the silver hubs of the Roval Rapide CLX II Team wheels that launched last year.
Perhaps they have a more aero profile or the team is even experimenting with different spoke tensions for the world champion. It seems odd to count the grams on an aero bike like the Colnago Y1Rs, but at the top level, every small detail matters. We suspect by the end of the season, we will have our answers.
This is an interesting one, we learned over winter that UAE Emirates-XRG and Shimano had announced a partnership for the next four years whereby the Japanese manufacturer would supply the team with groupsets and pedals. We assumed this would mean fewer aftermarket parts for the team. Pogačar himself has used Carbon-Ti chainrings and AbsoluteBlack brake pads regularly.
Team riders are still using Carbon-Ti chainrings though and Pogačar's Dura-Ace chainset was even fitted with chainrings that feature his custom TP logo and 'UAE Emirates' wordmark, so perhaps an understanding or agreement has been reached with Shimano to allow some flexibility here.
