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At 37, Bauke Mollema is now a veteran of the WorldTour peloton, however he’s nonetheless set to rack up a pair extra 12 months’s of expertise but. Sticking to the present pattern of ‘age is however a quantity’, the Dutchman has a contract with Lidl-Trek by till the top of 2026 that means that, barring a untimely retirement, he can be racing all the best way up till the grand age of 39, at the very least.
By the point his present contract winds to an finish, Mollema will be capable to mirror on 20 full years within the professional ranks, over half of which can have been spent at Lidl-Trek. The American workforce has change into a house from house, overseeing 13 of his 17 skilled victories.
Trek bikes have additionally been a continuing all through this success, so it’s becoming that Mollema will compete on the American model’s bikes in what could possibly be his last seasons as a professional.
Like in 2015 when he first joined the workforce, Mollema will compete on the Trek Madone and Emonda in 2024, besides they’ve modified so much over time. We bought our palms on Mollema’s Madone on the season-opening Tour Down Below to take a better take a look at the bike’s design and Mollema’s construct for the race.
Trek Madone: Aero epitomised
Aero guidelines within the biking world; there’s no avoiding it. Just about each product is now influenced by aerodynamics indirectly. Contemplating the massive give attention to aerodynamics, then, it’s not too shocking that aero has taken on many attention-grabbing varieties lately – arguably reaching a climax with the Giro helmet Visma-Lease a Bike have started using in 2024.
Within the realms of bikes, Trek’s Madone arguably epitomises the aero method the very best by its IsoFlow know-how. To the untrained eye, IsoFlow might seem to easily be a gap beneath the seatpost and, nicely, it basically is. It’s not there for the sake of it, although, and has actual efficiency advantages, each aerodynamically and by way of shedding weight.
IsoFlow broke cowl when the most recent Trek Madone was formally launched in 2022 and it added to what was already a really aerodynamic bike. It cuts a conventional aero bike silhouette however continues to be a far cry from the Madone Mollema used at the start of his tenure with the workforce. Again then the bike nonetheless had oval tubes and was largely influenced by weight, though these weight considerations have since been pushed to at least one facet by just about each model by aero considering, as proven by the beneath overview of the professional bikes we’ve coated since 2015.
American theme
Trek is a US model and the remainder of the bike sticks to the American theme, beginning with the SRAM Crimson groupset.
Lidl-Trek are one of only four teams who are using SRAM’s Red groupset in 2024, with the remainder utilizing Shimano – Campagnolo is now absent from cycling’s top tier. Working SRAM comes with a bonus over different manufacturers: the power to run 1x. It’s one thing Lidl-Trek took benefit of in 2023, together with Mollema who used a 1x set-up on the Vuelta a España on his Madone.
The Dutchman returned to a conventional 2x set-up for the Tour Down Below, combining a 54/41t chainset with what gave the impression to be a 10-33t cassette.
Bontrager’s Aeolus wheels
Bontrager, which is owned by Trek, additionally continued this American theme by its Aeolus wheels. Mollema used the RSL 51 model, with their mid-depth 51mm rims.
They have been paired with Pirelli’s P Zero Race tyres in a 28mm width – just about all riders, besides these sponsored by Specialized, used this width on the race.
Up entrance there have been no surprises with Mollema utilizing a one-piece Bontrager Aeolus RSL handlebar. Maybe surprisingly, a few of Mollema’s teammates used separate bars and stems on their bikes, like Quinn Simmons, which don’t presumably present the identical aero advantages.
Elsewhere, Mollema’s saddle of selection was the Bontrager Arvada.
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