Remco Evenepoel has a prototype time trial bike for the Tour de France – Is Specialized finally updating the Shiv TT?

With the opening stage of the Tour de France taking place over a 19.6km team time trial course, teams will have been frantically working to fine-tune their leaders’ TT setups in the lead-up to the race.

But it appears Remco Evenepoel‘s bike sponsor, Specialized, has gone a few steps further, as a new ‘prototype’ time trial bike and a deep-section front wheel have been spotted hiding in the back of a van at the Tour de France Grand Depart in Barcelona.

And we didn’t need to hide in a bush for these photos; we were given permission to shoot in and around the mechanics as they busily worked on building bikes for the team’s leaders, and while there, my eagle-eyed colleague Tom spotted the new machine hanging in the back of a nearby open van.

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A few quick photos – those you see here – were all we could obtain before one of the mechanics realised his mistake and quickly closed the door.

(Image credit: Future)What’s new

Whereas the old bike had quite a distance between seat tube and rear tyre, this one looks to have filled that space in, and then protrudes beyond the seat stays not too dissimilarly to the recent ‘Win Fin’ on the Tarmac SL9, or even the 2014 model Shiv that preceded the existing model.

The seat stays themselves remain low and horizontal as per the outgoing model.

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This saddle clamp is a lot sleeker than most (Image credit: Future)

The other big change is the introduction of what appears to be an aero saddle clamp system, integrated into the carbon at the top of the post, rather than a separate bolt-on unit. This removes a bunch of material from beneath the saddle, no doubt improving airflow between the rider’s legs.

You can just make out the ‘YPE’ from the end of the UCI ‘Prototype’ sticker. (Image credit: Future)

Looking closely, it’s possible to see the ‘YPE’ at the end of the ‘Prototype’ sticker on the seat tube, and above this on the top tube, it’s just possible to make out the ‘Evenepoel’ sticker to denote which rider will be getting this bike (as if it wasn’t obvious).

The front end of the bikes are similar too. (Image credit: Future)

With the old model in front of it obscuring some of the view, it’s hard to see if there are any changes at the front end too, but we can at least see that the trailing edge of the head tube looks similar to its predecessor.