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TECH NEWS

Tour de France 2015 Bikes: Steve Cummings' Cervélo S5

Steve Cummings won stage 14 of the Tour de France. Here's a look at the bike he used

British rider Steve Cummings of the MTN-Qhubeka UCI Professional Continental team clinched the first Tour de France stage win of his career - and the first for the team, given a wild card entry to the race - winning Saturday's Stage 14 from Mende to Valence. Here’s a look at the Cervélo S5 that carried him to victory.

The MTN-Qhubeka squad switched from Trek to Cervélo for the 2015 season and the latest version of the S5 launched this year appears to be the most popular model with the team, though a few, such as Tyler Farrar, have opted for the S3. We didn't spot any R5 race bikes, the company's regular all-round model, being prepared by the team before the start of the Tour when we shot these photographs, so it appears the aero road bike has gained widespread approval with the team.

The team brought two fleets of team bikes to the Tour de France, the regular black painted bike above as reserve bikes, and a fleet of newly painted bikes with what is arguably the best paint job in the race. The paint job not only looks really smart, but also celebrates Qhubeka's #BicyclesChangesLives campaign, with the phrase “Move Forward” written across the top tube.

Steve Cummings rides a stock 56cm Cervélo S5. The team combine Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 electronic drivetrains with Rotor chainsets and KMC chains. Steve Cummings opts for regular round chainrings, in a 53/39t combination.

Wheels are from Enve and are the US company’s  SES 4.5 model, which pairs a 48mm deep-section front rim with a 56mm rear rim. It’s not just the depth that changes, but the width as well: the front is 27mm wide at the brake track, the rear is 25.5mm wide.

The rims are laced to DT Swiss hubs and fitted with Schwalbe One 26mm tyres.

The stem and handlebar are from 3T, with a negative rise stem used to achieve his desired fit on the bike. There’s a spacer between the stem and headset top cap so he could go lower if he wanted. A regular Garmin mount is wrapped around the stem.

The seatpost, carbon and aero shaped, is made by Cervélo and is topped with a Selle Italia SLR saddle.

Cervélo launched the revamped S5, its top-of-the-range aero road bike, at Eurobike last September. The new model introduces an updated frame design that is claimed to reduces drag by as much as 21.3 watts compared to the old S5.

As well as improved aerodynamics, Cervélo has also increased frame stiffness to produce sharper handling and increased responsiveness. The frame and fork has also been designed to better accommodate the latest wide rims and tyres.

Cervélo launch revamped S5 aero road bike

Cummings is a Speedplay pedal man.

Cables are routed internally on the new S5 and the Di2 wiring goes into the top tube via a special port.

Lizard Skins bar tape is wrapped around his classic bend 3T handlebars.

The S5 is a narrow bike, as this photo from the back shows, with an aero seatpost and integrated seatclamp helping to reduce drag.

The bikes of the 2015 Tour de France

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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4 comments

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johnnymcg259 | 8 years ago
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I've followed Steve's career for some time now and he's one of the most underrated riders (for some reason?) in the pro peleton. I was sooooo pleased when he took that TDF stage. Well deserved!

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WolfieSmith | 8 years ago
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Obviously a motorised bike. And Cummings must be doping as he was too fast up that hill. And he's British so obviously he's cheating. : )

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Charles_Hunter | 8 years ago
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Steve Cummings, the peregrine falcon of Clatterbridge.

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Yorky-M | 8 years ago
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the french eater!

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