Pro Bike: Chris Froome's Pinarello F8

Chris Froome has made the swap to Pinarello’s new F8 platform for the Tour de France. The F8 was developed in conjunction with Jaguar and is both lighter and far more aerodynamic than the Dogma Froome used to win the Tour last year. This F8, his primary bike, features a number of individual touches, most notably the use of non-round rings and a modified Di2 climbing shifter on his handlebars. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Froome will look to defend his title on PInarello’s latest model. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

This piece of the design will be familiar to anyone who has checked out either Pinarello’s Bolide time trial bike or any of the special Team GB frames. The wide, bowed fork legs are said to improve aerodynamics, pulling the legs away from the churning spokes. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

An hourglass-shaped head tube decreases drag while maintaining stiffness. Froome’s mechanics have routed the cables perfectly. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Froome has been on and off of these Oysmmetric non-round rings a few times over the last two years. He appears to be back on them for this Tour. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Giovanni “Nani” Pinarello’s signature adorns every F8. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Truncated airfoils are all the rage these days. They decrease drag but allow engineers to maintain stiffness and comfort, as the tube shapes can be fatter. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Froome was out training on Thursday with an 11-28 cassette. The first two stages are lumpy, and mechanics said he’d likely keep the same gear setup for most of the Tour. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com