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The Tour de France winning bike! Jonas Vingegaard's Cervelo S5

Updated bike takes advantage of changes to UCI rules in pursuit of aero gains

Jumbo-Visma raced the Tour de France on a yet-to-be-announced update to the Cervelo S5. We took a closer look at Jonas Vingegaard's bike before the race got underway.

At last year's race, Jonas Vingegaard, the relatively unknown Danish domestique of Primoz Roglic, ended up as Jumbo Visma's leader after the latter crashed heavily in the opening week. After finishing 2nd in last year's race, the Dane has gone one better, winning the 2022 Tour de France with a dominant display in the mountains.

Cervelo had a full yellow S5 frameset tucked away for the final stage which was built up after Vingegaard had sealed victory in the penultimate stage.

Vingegaard Cervelo S5 Tour de France Yellow Bike 3

When you win the Tour de France, you've got to keep the sponsors happy, so there's no room for components that have been battered in the spring classics.

A brand new Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 groupset was installed onto the glossy frame and while the opening kilometers of the final stage are a procession, the laps around Paris are still a full-gas bike race. As a result, Vingegaard has the new pro-standard 54/40T chainrings paired with what looks to us to be an 11-30T cassette.

The bike is equipped with the latest R9200-P power meter cranks from Shimano and new Dura-Ace pedals have been installed.

The Dura-Ace theme continues with the wheels, with the mechanics installing the C60 for the fast and flat laps around Paris. The wheels are tubular and Vittoria's Corsa G2.0 look lovely with their tan sidewalls.

Vingegaard Cervelo S5 Tour de France Yellow Bike 2

Adding to this special paint job is the phrase 'Jonas vinder gult', a play on Vingegaard's name and, when translated from Danish, reads 'Jonas wins yellow'. Clever.

Vingegaard Cervelo S5 Tour de France Yellow Bike Bike

Racing for 3 weeks can make you really tired, so just in case he forgets his own name, there's a helpful tip on the top tube.

The S5 that the team have now been riding for a while initially looks a lot like the existing model although it appears that Cervelo has taken advantage of changes to UCI equipment rules and made many of the elements deeper in profile: the head tube, down tube, seat tube and seat post have all had that treatment.

The fork legs could be a little deeper than previously too – although we wouldn’t swear to it – and the fork crown certainly extends further backwards.

2023 Cervelo S3 Jonas Vingegaard Dauphine 2022 - 16.jpeg

Viewed from the front, the external fork steerer appears to have been slimmed down.

2023 Cervelo S3 Jonas Vingegaard Dauphine 2022 - 5.jpeg

Further back, there’s now more of a slope at the junction between the top tube and the seat tube than on the previous S5, and the whole bottom bracket area extends higher.

2023 Cervelo S3 Jonas Vingegaard Dauphine 2022 - 4.jpeg

The seatstays are a slightly different shape from before and the Di2 wire exits the frame at a higher point above the dropout.

Read our review of the existing Cervelo S5 Ultegra Di2 Disc

We won’t analyse every part of the frame and fork but it’s probably safe to say that the designers have taken the existing S5 and pushed the dimensions as far as the new rules allow in search of aero gains, although we’ll have to wait for the official release to find out for sure.

The S5 that’s in Cervelo’s 2022 range was introduced in the 2019 model year with the company claiming an aero saving of 5.5 watts (42g of drag) over the 2014 version at 40km/h (25mph).

“The most noticeable visual and performance change comes at the front of the bike,” said Cervelo. “An entirely re-conceptualised aero cockpit achieves significant improvements in aero performance. Fully-internal cable routes are provided for both electrical and mechanical shifting while maintaining ease of adjustments. Slip-in spacers can be used to adjust stem height and bar tilt without detaching any cables, making adjustment far simpler than in a typical aero bike.

2023 Cervelo S3 Jonas Vingegaard Dauphine 2022 - 19.jpeg

This remains relevant because the cockpits on Jumbo-Visma’s latest S5s look similar in shape, if not identical to previously.

“Importantly, the V-shaped stem made it possible to fully hide mechanical shifting cables,” said Cervelo. “The stem was specifically designed to minimise the angle of cable bends, so riders get both perfect shifting/braking and the full aero benefit of hidden cables.”

2023 Cervelo S3 Jonas Vingegaard Dauphine 2022 - 20.jpeg

As well as hiding the cables, the V-shaped geometry of the stem is designed “to present less obstruction to the oncoming high-velocity airflow between the rider’s arms”. The idea is that this high-velocity flow of air is maintained along the top tube, through the thighs of the rider, and past the seat post. 

2023 Cervelo S3 Jonas Vingegaard Dauphine 2022 - 3.jpeg

Team Jumbo-Visma’s bikes are built up with the latest 12-speed Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9200 groupsets. Jonas Vingegaard’s bike shown here includes the latest incarnation of the power meter.

Read our review of the Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 groupset

2023 Cervelo S3 Wout Van Aert Dauphine 2022 - 7.jpeg

Jumbo-Visma’s wheels come from Shimano too. These are Dura-Ace C50s on Vingegaard’s and Van Aert’s bikes, fitted with Vittoria Corsa tyres.

2023 Cervelo S3 Wout Van Aert Dauphine 2022 - 5.jpeg

The saddles come from Fizik, each rider opting for carbon-railed Antares.

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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3 comments

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Skimpy1 | 1 year ago
1 like

Only one small but important detail omitted here; he actually made all his gains when riding an R5. I just don't know how he managed the descents without a high speed flow between his legs.

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Offwood | 1 year ago
0 likes

Presumably WVA won't actually ride with that fork now?

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Jbnuts | 1 year ago
0 likes

I wonder if they have revisited the strange design of the steering limiter.  In the previous model I believe it was a metal component impacting the carbon inside the head tube at severe steering angles (e.g. perhaps if the bike were to fall or be dropped).  

According to Luescher Teknik this was causing (a very expensive) frame to crack.  

https://youtu.be/yajCXeNTbqk

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