Tour de France Bikes - Zabel's Colnago

Eric Zabel's Colnago Extreme Power

ProTourNews Technical Editor David Arthur takes a look at Erik Zabel's Colnago.

Erik's Giro Bike

Though a win has eluded the Miram sprint star thus far, Eric Zabel's 14th Tour de France is sure to yield a stage win once the mountains are a distant memory. And even though he's yet to win a stage, Zabel's bike has been causing a stir, with little information currently available about his top secret rig.

But we'll do the best we can until we find out more. Colnago's top of the range and stiffest Extreme Power has been updated, with Colnago seeking to make this latest addition to its impressive array of bikes even stiffer for powerhouses like Zabel.

Many of the tubes have been re-profiled, and up front is a 1 1/8”-to-1 1/4” steerer tube setup which should bring around more responsive handling. Inside the top- and down-tubes reside two carbon fiber longitudinal reinforcement ribs. The headset is a semi-integrated type, which breaks with Colnago tradition. Zabel will have to pump out some watts to get this frame flexing in the final sprint.

But turning heads more than the technological step forward this frame represents, is the paint job Colnago have chosen to adorn the sprinters bike, with a retro-inspired decal set. Nice. Let's hope Zabel can power it across the line first for a stage win in the Tour.