{"id":610215,"date":"2026-05-29T11:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T11:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/610215\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T11:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T11:35:15","slug":"specialized-tarmac-sl9-leaks-confirmed-in-red-bull-bora-hansgrohe-instagram-photobomb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/610215\/","title":{"rendered":"Specialized Tarmac SL9 leaks confirmed in Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe Instagram photobomb"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Instagram post from a Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe WorldTour team training camp appears to confirm the presence of a new Specialized Tarmac SL9 (and what we suspect is a new Hammerhead rearview radar). <\/p>\n

Photobombing the image from the top of a team car, the new race bike is distinctive for its noticeably flaring fork crown.<\/p>\n

The design also sees the leading edges of the fork blades set further forward than on the Tarmac SL8<\/a>, something we saw when studio renders leaked online<\/a> over a week ago.<\/p>\n

\"\"Classic photobombing technique on show, here…. <\/p>\n

Otherwise, the design is remarkably similar to the Tarmac SL8’s, confirming the brand’s all-rounder approach to its flagship race bike is set to continue.<\/p>\n

The renders from our previous story showed a redesigned seatpost with a narrower insertion section flaring out to a deeper aero section higher up. That’s unclear in this image, owing to the presence of a large sensor device.<\/p>\n

The device appears to be a rearview radar<\/a>, given it has a red light on the top, but its presence is notable because it doesn’t clearly resemble a design we’ve seen before.<\/p>\n

\"\"The fork is the clearest indication that this is a new bike, while the rearview radar appears new too. <\/p>\n

The team is sponsored by SRAM, and accordingly uses Hammerhead Karoo bike computers (Hammerhead is owned by SRAM, and Karoo devices are supplied with some of SRAM’s AXS groupsets).<\/p>\n

It’s logical, then, that this rearview radar is a prototype Hammerhead device designed to work with the brand’s head units, expanding the brand’s ecosystem with a device to rival Garmin’s Varia and Wahoo’s Elemnt rearview radars.<\/p>\n

When will the Tarmac SL9 make its race debut?
\n\"RemcoRemco Evenepoel rode this Olympic champion’s tribute Tarmac SL8 at the 2025 Tour de France while racing for Soudal-Quick Step \u2013 but will he race the Tarmac SL9 this year? Simon von Bromley \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

So far, it’s unclear exactly when the Specialized Tarmac SL9 will make its racing debut. <\/p>\n

But it feels a good bet that, if at least one team is testing it now, the bike will be raced wholesale by Specialized’s sponsored teams at the Tour de France.<\/p>\n

It’s also likely that we will see prototypes in upcoming Tour ‘warm-up’ races, such as the Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes (formerly the Crit\u00e8rium du Dauphin\u00e9) and Tour de Suisse.<\/p>\n

Consider our eyes peeled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Instagram post from a Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe WorldTour team training camp appears to confirm…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-610215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}