Jumbo Visma pros are racing on Cervélo’s upcoming S5 aero bike. Cervélo isn’t yet talking about the bike, but the Canadian brand is following a tried-and-true promotion formula.
In the spring of 2021, keen eyes caught Jumbo Visma riders on the unannounced at the time Cervélo R5. Weeks later, the bike was officially announced, but delivery times were delayed by several months due to component shortages.
In October of 2021, world cyclocross champion Marianne Vos and Wout van Aert were spotted on the then-unreleased Cervélo R5-CX. Weeks later, the bike was officially announced, but again, was in short supply due to component shortages. Cervélo credited WVA and the Vos with providing feedback about the new ‘cross bikes during the development phase.
At the 2022 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Wout van Aert won on the yet-to-be-announced updated Cervélo S5.
VeloNews asked Cervélo about this new version its aero road bike, but the company isn’t ready to talk about any details.
“It is a new edition of the S5,” said Cervélo brand manager Sarah Taylor. “It will be available to consumers later this year, date TBD.”
In the meantime, take a look at the bike raced by van Aert and some but not all of his Jumbo Visma teammates at races in ‘opening weekend’ and elsewhere.
Wout van Aert won on an unannounced Cervélo S5 aero road bike at the 2022 Omloop Het Nieuwesblad.
The head tube on the new Cervélo S5 is longer, from the front end toward the back end of the bike, and shares more surface area with the top tube and down tube. This elongated shape helps to smooth airflow, and create less turbulence — so less drag — meaning the rider will presumably go faster for the same effort.
Updates to the UCI rules, specifically the 3:1 ratio of tube shapes, allow bike manufacturers to design slipperier shapes for road bikes.
A closer look at the 2022 Cervélo S5 head tube profile, which looks to have some similarities with the Canadian brand’s time trial bike.
For comparison: look at van Aert’s 2021 time trial bike raced at the Tokyo Olympics and note the shape of the elongated head tube. Do you see any similarities between this, and the new S5?
The shape of the bottom bracket area is beefier and more refined. This should also make the bike faster, and stiffer where the most frame flex occurs.
The hourglass head tube allows for smoothed airflow, while the gap on either side of the front wheel inside of the fork blades is meant to decrease turbulent drag. This shape is an iterative improvement of the previous S5.
Van Aert was provided with several versions of the Cervélo S5, including this one splashed with the colors of the Belgian national road champion.
The shape of the seat tube has also been improved, with the junctions at the seatstays being updated for aerodynamics, as well as the shape of the junction at the top tube.
The larger shape of the underside of the top tube at the seat tube junction also may improve aerodynamics, compared with previous iterations of the S5. And the same can be said of where the seatstays attach to the seat tube.
The shape of the junction of the chainstays and seatstays has also been slightly modified for the latest version of the Cervélo S5.
Primož Roglič raced the new Cervélo S5 at the Faun Ardèche classic.
Not all Jumbo-Visma riders were on the new Cervélo S5. Some opted for the barely one-year-old Cervélo R5 at the Drôme Classic.
Jonas Vingegaard was successful at the Drôme Classic on the 2021 Cervélo R5, an all-round bike, not the aerodynamic S5.
VeloNews is keeping its eyes out for the new Cervélo S5, and will provide details as soon as the info and bikes are made available.