Two years ago, Jonas Vingegaard dismantled Tadej Pogačar in the stage 16 time trial on his way to a second Tour de France title. It was a masterclass in both form and fine-tuned optimisation. We covered that performance in a detailed debrief at the time, speaking with the team’s head of performance, Mathieu Heijboer, and one goal was clear: stripping weight from the team’s Cervélo P5 time trial bike was a central part of the strategy.
Since then, Heijboer told us how Visma has transformed from “shit to super power” on the Performance Process podcast and Cervélo, which has released a new P5, appears to be back at work, refining the platform even further ahead of this year’s time trials, particularly the stage 16 mountain TT.
Officially unveiled last year, the latest P5 brings a series of subtle but meaningful improvements over its predecessor. Cervélo claims the frame is around 1 watt faster thanks to refined tube shapes and updated integration. There were updates aimed at better accommodating wider tyres and rims. The new one-piece bayonet front end, inspired by the S5, is designed to be lighter, easier to adjust, and offers more fit options. While Cervélo hasn’t quoted a specific frame weight, they do confirm it is lighter overall than the P5 Vingegaard used so effectively in 2023.
Still, with Vingegaard losing a total of 1:49 to Pogačar in last year’s time trials and the P5, light as it may be, heavy enough not to trouble the UCI’s minimum weight limit – that’s where Visma’s marginal gains machine kicks in.
What we’re seeing here, in my opinion, is a clear effort to fine-tune both weight and aerodynamics ahead of the two Tour time trials. While many teams are considering road bikes for stage 16 mountain time trial, clues dotted across this bike suggest to me Visma and Vingegaard will use it for both time trial stages.
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