Wilco Kelderman’s Giro d’Italia hasn’t quite gone to plan, but then again professional cycling never does. A stage 9 mechanical, which he blamed on disc brakes but later walked back, tumbled the Bora-Hansgrohe leader out of GC contention.
Despite that, his Giro has been far from a bust. Teammate Jai Hindley now sits in second overall, three seconds adrift of Richard Carapaz, with one more climbing stage and a time trial remaining.
The entire Bora-hansgrohe team is racing on the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7, the American brand’s all-around race solution meant to be among the fastest aero bikes available while still coming in at the UCI weight limit.
We got a closer look at Kelderman’s Tarmac before the start of the stage 1 in Budapest, Hungary.
Wilco Kelderman’s Bora-hansgrohe team bike is very similar to what anyone could buy at a local bike shop off the shelf, save for the special team graphics.
Kelderman began the Giro as the Bora-hansgrohe team leader, denoted by the 61 number plate. After losing 11 minutes on stage 9, however, the team’s GC hopes now rest with Jai Hindley who is just 3 seconds behind maglia rosa Richard Carapaz heading into the final weekend.
Shimano supplies its latest 12-speed Dura-Ace groupset with a FC-R9100-P power meter. The bike rolls along on Roval Rapide CLXII wheels.
Bora-hansgrohe calls its 2022 kit and bike design “No Off Season.” The theme includes a red accent on the jersey as well as inside the fork accompanied by those words.
Wahoo supplies the team with the ELEMNT BOLT head unit. With a compact figure, it keeps the cockpit tidy.
The Roval Rapide handlebar helps keep the front end as aero as possible.
The aero advantage of the Tarmac makes it a good choice for flat days like stage 1 of the Giro, whose profile Kelderman had taped to his stem before the start of the race in Budapest.
Bora-hansgrohe sticks with the integrated Specialized stem that comes standard on the Tarmac.
Saddles rank among the most personal and fickle equipment choices. Kelderman has opted to stay with an S-Works Phenom saddle over the brand’s latest 3d-printed Mirror models.
There’s no mistaking what brand Kelderman rides.