Samuel Sanchez won Thursday’s stage on Luz-Ardiden in front of a hometown crowd (all the Basques that flock to the Pyrenean stages). He rode across the line on a spare bike after a crash earlier in the stage. Here’s the Orbea Orca that he started on.
In honor of his Beijing victory the bike received a custom paint job spotted with the number eight, a lucky number in China (the date of the opening ceremony was 8/8/08 at 8:08 pm). His bike also gets gold touches on the cables, chain, derailleur pulleys, skewers, bar tape and saddle.
Sanchez’s numbers:
Seat height: 77.9 cm
Reach from saddle nose to handlebar center: 59.7 cm
Crank arm length: 175 mm
Stem length: 14 cm
Handlebar width: 42 cm
