{"id":520556,"date":"2026-03-05T15:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T15:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/520556\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T15:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T15:29:12","slug":"lease-a-bike-put-van-aert-and-vingegaard-on-cervelo-aero-monster-even-for-the-hardest-climbing-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/520556\/","title":{"rendered":"Lease a Bike put Van Aert and Vingegaard on Cerv\u00e9lo \u2018aero monster\u2019 \u2014 even for the hardest climbing races"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you remember the sprint in stage 11 of the Tour de France in 2024? The uphill sprint-\u00e0-deux between Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> and Tadej Poga\u010dar, surprisingly won by the Dane from Visma | Lease a Bike<\/a>. Those were different times: where Vingegaard still made the difference that day on Cerv\u00e9lo\u2019s lightweight climbing bike, he will normally use the so-called R5 barely \u2014 if at all \u2014 at Paris\u2013Nice.<\/p>\n

In an extensive chat of IDLProCycling.com with Cerv\u00e9lo head engineer Scotty Roy, one message stood out above everything else: in 2026, the shift from weight to aerodynamics is a road almost every team is travelling at full speed \u2014 further than many would have expected a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Cerv\u00e9lo supply Visma | Lease a Bike with multiple bikes: the R5 climbing bike, the S5 aero bike, the P5 time trial bike \u2014 and Wout van Aert<\/a> also rides an R5-CX for cyclocross. Add the more all-round Soloist and, in theory, riders can choose a different tool for every race.<\/p>\n

But in 2026, teams are reaching for the aero option more than ever. Visma and Cerv\u00e9lo are not alone. UAE Team Emirates-XRG introduced the Colnago Y1Rs in 2025 and, even though it was initially presented as an aero bike mainly for Milan\u2013San Remo and less severe climbs, Poga\u010dar was seen riding it virtually all the time.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"tadej<\/p>\n

Pogacar rode almost all of his races in 2025 on Colnago’s new aero bike.<\/p>\n

Cerv\u00e9lo see Visma | Lease a Bike using the R5 climbing bike less and less<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar seemingly managed to put down his power so effectively in an aerodynamic position that he did not need a lighter climbing bike. At Visma | Lease a Bike, the same dynamic is playing out. Vingegaard won a Tour stage on the R5 in 2024, but two years later he might not even have chosen that bike. \u201cThe S5 is the star of the show,\u201d Roy confirms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried in 2025 to bring the R5\u2019s position closer to the S5,\u201d the American explains. \u201cThe geometry of the two bikes was very different, with the S5 demanding a much more aggressive position. The team asked us to do that with the R5 as well. That way, both bikes feel more similar, so riders can feel at home on either bike more quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy emphasises that the need for a more aerodynamic climbing bike was also necessary if Cerv\u00e9lo wanted to stop the R5 from fading out of the picture. \u201cThe R5 is used less and less compared to ten years ago. These days, the advantage of the R5 is really in the very hard mountain finishes \u2014 for example in the second week of a Grand Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"pogacar<\/p>\n

Vingegaard won a Tour stage in an uphill sprint against Pogacar in 2024, both men then on climbing bikes.<\/p>\n

Vingegaard ended up on Cerv\u00e9lo\u2019s aero bike after heavy crash<\/p>\n

And yet, in 2025 we saw Vingegaard win stage 20 of the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a \u2014 finishing on the brutally steep Bola del Mundo \u2014 on the S5 aero bike. That stood out, because Roy had also argued strongly in favour of the climbing bike in those scenarios: \u201cIn those conditions, the R5 responds so well and so directly. If you don\u2019t have the R5, you don\u2019t win those finishes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact Vingegaard barely used the R5 in 2025 was not just a luxury choice. Roy points back to Vingegaard\u2019s heavy crash in the Tour of the Basque Country in 2024. \u201cAfter that crash, with Jonas we had the issue that something wasn\u2019t right in his position on the R5,\u201d Roy says. \u201cIt didn\u2019t work. Even though the positioning is almost identical, Jonas would come back from an R5 training ride with back pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t work after the crash like it did before, so we\u2019re working on that. We don\u2019t have the answer yet,\u201d Roy adds. In 2026, it no longer seems like such a major problem. Poga\u010dar became world and European champion on his aero bike, Vingegaard won the Vuelta on the S5 \u2014 and Van Aert won the brutally hard climbing stage to Siena at the Giro d\u2019Italia in 2025 on the S5 aero bike as well.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"wout<\/p>\n

Van Aert won stage 9 in the 2025 Giro d’Italia on the Cerv\u00e9lo S5 aero bike.<\/p>\n

Cerv\u00e9lo R5 climbing bike no longer needed for hard climbing classics?So don\u2019t be surprised if Van Aert lines up on Saturday 7 March<\/a> on the S5 aero bike and thunders across the Tuscan gravel roads at Strade Bianche<\/a>. Roy finds it a fascinating development, but one that is still mainly limited to the professional peloton. \u201cWhat\u2019s important to say: what Jonas, Poga\u010dar and Wout can push on an aero bike is not what you and I can push,\u201d he stresses.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, it wouldn\u2019t make sense to sit on an aero bike. But if Poga\u010dar rides a 10% average climb at 25, 26 or 27 kilometres per hour, then it does make sense. We just don\u2019t climb that fast. We\u2019ve also tested our bikes for years at 48 kilometres per hour. The faster you go, the more benefit you get from the aero bike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those rising speeds in the peloton are literally changing which bikes make sense. A rider who is more aerodynamic can be faster on a slightly heavier bike than someone in a less aero position on a lighter one. \u201cBut the slower you are, the less advantage you get from the S5,\u201d Roy concludes. \u201cFor the WorldTour, the climbing bike has become a specialist bike \u2014 but for a recreational rider, the R5 is still the perfect choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"matteo-jorgenson-jonas-vingegaard\"\/<\/p>\n

Visma | Lease a Bike on Cerv\u00e9lo’s aero bike.<\/p>\n

Can Cerv\u00e9lo make the R5 both aerodynamic and ultra-light?<\/p>\n

Cerv\u00e9lo\u2019s focus has shifted towards making the S5 easier to ride. \u201cThe aero bike rides much more easily now and isn\u2019t as stiff as it used to be,\u201d Roy explains. \u201cWe already had that knowledge in 2017 and 2018, but only in recent years has the science in the sport caught up, so we can get the best out of athletes with the equipment. The bikes were always aero, but now teams understand how to actually be fast with them \u2014 to the point the UCI even want to slow the peloton down.\u201d<\/p>\n

More and more riders are now reaching the tipping point where aero beats light weight, helped by modern technology and data. That raises the bar for manufacturers \u2014 and Roy believes it should. \u201cA bike can lose a race, but it can never win one,\u201d he says. \u201cFor me, there can never be anything wrong with the bike. There are no excuses for a bike to fail at WorldTour level when it really matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the knowledge and materials to make a safe time trial bike that weighs four kilos. The bike has to be ultra-reliable all year long,\u201d Roy continues, before turning to Cerv\u00e9lo\u2019s P5 time trial bike, where the brand can go even further on aerodynamics.<\/p>\n

And, Roy adds proudly: \u201cWe wanted the P5 to ride like the S5 \u2014 and we succeeded. That\u2019s why it performs so well on technical courses. Our challenge is to make the time trial bikes as good as Colnago and Specialized, without it feeling worse.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Do you remember the sprint in stage 11 of the Tour de France in 2024? The uphill sprint-\u00e0-deux…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,172195,6495,188598,85,177851,23372,58412],"class_list":["post-520556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-idl-productions","tag-jonas-vingegaard","tag-paris-nice","tag-sports","tag-strade-bianche","tag-visma-lease-a-bike","tag-wout-van-aert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}