SPOTTED: Remco Evenepoel's custom S Works Tarmac SL8 rolling on unreleased Roval wheels

It looks as though Roval has at least one new set of road wheels on the way! We spotted this Roval Rapide Team wheelset fitted to a select few Specialized bikes at the Criterium Du Dauphine including that of Remco Evenepoel on his very bling Specialized Tarmac SL8...

A new paint job

Remco Evenepoel will head to the 2024 Tour de France as one of the general classification favourites but first, he's set to test his legs at the age-old warm-up race the Criterium Du Dauphine which starts this Sunday.

It was always unlikely that Evenepoel was going to fly under the radar but it's even less likely now we've seen the bike he'll be riding, it's very chrome and very bling!

> Review: Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8

Specialized says: "Our design team won’t sacrifice performance for graphics, so they pioneered an exacting technique in bike ‘painting’ called PVD - physical vapour deposition - that adds less than a single gram of weight to create the ‘molten colours’ effect."

"The frame is hung on a rotating fixture inside a vacuum chamber.  An alloy is vaporized and injected into the chamber.  The frame is spun around, and the vaporized metal lands on the surface at the molecular level to create the PVD "liquid metal" coating. It’s all about achieving the design intention while preserving an incredibly lightweight and a 6.8kg complete build."

> Here's why I won't be upgrading to the Specialized Tarmac SL8

We'll get on to the full spec in a minute but before that let's take a look at the wheels because they don't currently feature in Roval's lineup...

Roval Rapide CLX Team?

It was initially the silver hubs that drew us towards Evenepoel's new wheelset but on closer inspection, it appears that they also have different spokes to the CLX ii wheelset, they might even be carbon - a first for Roval road wheels.

Many high-end wheel brands such as Hunt, Syncros, Cadex and Scribe to name just a few have carbon spoke options in their lineup, the primary reason for using carbon over traditional steel spokes being weight saving. In fact, brands claim that they weigh as little as 65% of a traditional steel spoke which can save anything from 50-70g per wheel by switching to carbon.

> Best road bike wheels 2024

One brand that has up until now steered clear of carbon spokes on its road wheels is Roval, their top-end wheelsets, the Alpinist CLX ii and Rapide CLX ii (That much of the Soudal Quickstep team had fitted to their bikes) use DT Swiss Aerolite steel spokes with 18 in the front and 24 at the rear. Well, this new wheelset has spokes which definitely aren't them!

The Rapide CLX ii wheelset has a claimed weight of 1,520g which although competitively light is far from the lightest in the pro peloton, it's understandable then that Roval may want to shed some of this weight.

Admittedly it's rather hard to tell from a distance but we reckon these new wheels not only have carbon spokes but also a redesigned hub given away by them being silver rather than black as on the CLX ii wheelset.

It has long been rumoured that the Specialized sponsored World Tour teams have in fact been using the first-generation Rapide and Alpinist wheels rather than the latest offerings which forgo tubeless compatibility but are a few grams lighter highlighting the fact that the world's best demand lower weights rather than being all about aero.

The rims on the wheels we spotted appear to feature the same rim profile as the CLX ii wheels, of course, this is by no means proof that a new layup hasn't been used but we do know that Evenepoel was using them with latex inner tubes fitted which means that it's unlikely that Roval's new wheelset is hookless - something that rivals such as Zipp and Enve have done to further decrease weight.

> Are expensive carbon road bike wheels worth the money?

What will the new wheels be called? The wheels on Evenepoel's bike are labelled "Roval Rapide CLX Team" which will come as little surprise for those who also follow XC mountain biking - Roval recently released the 1,190g Control SL Team wheelset which also features carbon spokes and silver hubs similar to what we've seen being used here.

For pro riders such as Evenepoel to be riding the new wheels in big races we would suggest that the wheels are nearing their launch date, a date before the Tour de France which starts at the end of June seems most likely.

> Are expensive carbon wheels worth it? Testing deep carbon rims vs classic aluminium

If Roval is to follow a similar strategy to its "Team" mtb wheels (above) then we can expect only a limited run of the wheels to be available to the public and at a premium price (A £500 increase over the standard version).

The mtb wheelset comes in a "special box": WHAT’S IN THE BOX: Inside Control SL Team is more than just a wheelset. You’ll also get, Ti bolts, end caps with tools, a Dynaplug kit, a premium wheel bag, 2 premium Specialized tyres, extra carbon spokes, and a few other surprises.

Roval says this about its new carbon spoke tech on its latest MTB wheels: "The biggest weight savings came from our revolutionary carbon spokes. After a three-year process involving exhaustive material research and extensive testing in the field and lab, we landed on 20 optimized carbon fibre spokes that are not only 29% lighter than their steel counterparts, they’re also stronger and more durable."

It would make sense to use this carbon spoke tech in road wheels too then wouldn't it?

The rest of the bike

Other than the wheelset, Evenepoel seems to have made little changes to his setup since he received his S Works Tarmac SL8 ahead of the 2023 Glasgow World Champs.

The 52cm frame is fitted with the Roval Rapide integrated cockpit (also custom painted), a Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 groupset, a 0mm setback seatpost and a 3D printed S Works Power saddle.

The bike is currently running a 54/40T chainset and 11/34T cassette - something that the Soudal Quickstep mechanics said was by far the most common other than for sprint and TT stages. We also noted the use of 165mm crank arms, a growing trend amongst the World Tour pros.

> 8 upgrades I've made to my road bike to make it better than a new one

The new wheels were shod in S Works Turbo Cotton tyres with latex inner tubes as Specialized sponsored teams continue to buck the trend of going tubeless on dry stages.

Like many of the pros Evenepoel's bike is setup with a direct mount derailleur hangar and his SL8 matched the rest of his Soudal Quickstep team with the out-front computer mount and chain catcher both supplied by team sponsor K-Edge.

Would you be interested in carbon spoke wheels? Let us know in the comments section below...