The bike that Cavendish rode to his 35th Tour de France Stage win.

ome on now, people, be honest. Hands up, who had written Cavendish off, who poo-pooed the idea that the old bloke of the sprint field could muster up the skill, speed and tactics to take not just another stage at the Tour but his 35th? I’ll lead the charge. I’ll admit it, as much as I hoped he would, I figured that he had a slim chance; after all, today’s sprint field is deep, and that’s before you get past the all-dominant Philipsen. But what a win. Cav of old, or is that old Cav of old?

So there we have it, 35 wins, one more than that living Belgian legend, not that we’re counting or anything. The run-up and planning for this “project” by Cavendish and the Astana has been in the works since he crashed out of last year’s Tour. Along with the team and bike sponsor, Wilier has been planning things, too. The Italian company knew they had to deliver their latest and greatest aero bike for the Manx man, and as we all know, looking good gives you at least that extra 5%. And Wilier delivered on the front.

Cav’s bike for the Tour is a custom-painted Wilier Filante SLR, a bike that looks like it’s just got back from taking part in the Hindu festival Hindi. We got to get our paws on the bike in the build up to the Grand Depart. While shhoting the beautie we managed to speak with the designer behind the bikes paint scheme, as well as Cav’s old lead-out man Mark Renshaw, about his role at Astana now. Oh, and can we forget, we just happened to collar Mark, too.

If you’re expecting Tour stage talk, you’ll be disappointed, but if you’re after sharks in formaldehyde and sheep cut in half talk, fancy shoe talk and tech talk, then you’re in luck.

Trust us, you’ll understand! Just hit that play button, and it’ll all become clear.

And before you hit that play button, I’d just like to point out that that Pogacar character who congratulated Cav pretty damn swiftly after his stage win was only nine years old when Mark took his first Tour stage win back in 2008. You can thank me later for making you feel just that little older!

Enjoy

step back a bit step back a bit go on guess where we are that’s right outside don’t get any prizes for guing the aana team and we got well not just one special bike for you but is it three nice bikes I would say three interesting bikes from Asana that and do you like sharks in fromal the hide sheep C half let’s talk about let’s talk about the super duper lovely looking bake yeah the yes no let’s do Cavs bake first right what is he on so he’s on a filante SLR if I remember correctly um the filante I should probably check to make sure he’s on the filante it is a filante on okay we start no that’s fine I got come call it out yes so he’s on the new filante SLR he’s on a limited edition paint scheme for him um their contract with Cavendish expires at the end of this year so it’s a limited run until December 31st 208 oh so we can buy it yes I’ll get credit card yeah um it takes advantage of Uh willer’s custom paint program that you can do there um and he basically walked in the factory at least so we were told hey in fact if you want to know how it come about listen to this man so guys I’m luuka from vtina company tell us about that paint job C’s lovely lovely paint job where did it come from you you spotted the color right okay we the color was not in the plan because of Mark K from last year is using a special color for him the white marble black and gold but in March when he comes from in our Factory to visit um working through our showroom I say you see I saw um a wall with a sparkling clouds of Many Many Colors to say say why to not put this uh put this uh this clouds of colors in the front of the bike and then we keep the the black on the back are you able uh we say of course and we try to do many many attempts H at the end the bike comes out but the story is uh start from for Mark so that’s that’s a really really nice story we are paint explosion in a factory basically yeah so paint explosion in a Factory otherwise his bike is set up pretty standard to the rest of the team he’s got 38 CM wide bars he’s got a 120 stem uh 28 mil Victoria Corsa Pro Tires as well that me9 29 or thereabouts on the uh Vision Wheels I tell you what I noticed on the group set them chain rings they’re not they’re not the current version are they yeah so they’re running a 12-speed dur group set but the chain rings are 5541 chain rings they’re also 11speed they’re from uh duras ,000 do we know why have they told us that it’s because you can’t really get 5541 chain Rings otherwise [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Applause] first we won’t talk about the winds and all this lot do you like sharks in fromal the high sheep put I you got new shoes I do yeah I’m very proud you got Dam from Damian is he’s uh I got a few of his pieces you’ve got a few of his pieces he a I’ve been a massive fan massive fan for a long time because uh you know he’s kind of breaks away from the norm you know and we came from the young British AR group and uh cuz he would have been huge back in like when he was 92 94 when the shark when from alide came out so you would have been a young lb back then didn’t yeah but I didn’t know so much about it then you know it’s something you get as as you go up I guess so what what’s the idea behind the shoes and can I have a look at them uh yeah you can see them let me get ready and you can have a look at them but uh I’m not going to tell you about it on this you can have a look draw your own conclusion I’m very happy they’re very Damian um you know I want to do something special for my my shoes I have uh designers and stuff done them in the past and but I want something special for my last of the France you got a special bike as well yeah it’s speaking to the will guys and they been an absolute pleasure working with you you visited the factory you greeted everybody what’s it like you’ve obviously worked with many Brands throughout the year what’s it how have you seen technology change in that time yeah a hell of a lot you know it’s a it’s a kind of arms race now you know siph it’s about everything you can get different you know to be able to work with people that want to listen and change and just improve even if you have something that’s good you still want to improve you know and uh that’s how I’ve always being and that’s how I like to work with my I to get ready thank you the band has been back together for a year now hasn’t it what was that what was that initial call like you fancy helping me out again um I look it it it went over a long time it wasn’t a quick period I I had contact with C in January and February and then it was March April May and then he won in the jro and then it was a little bit of excitement um so to come yeah last year to the tour it was last minute really last minute but we we had spoken about it and I had a clear idea what I could do to help him and yeah we got super close last year what’s it like being back in the the bosom ofy Pro cycling cuz obviously you stepped away from it retired is it different from your perspective now has it changed in just a couple of years you were away it’s the Sport’s still the same same sport but it’s obviously progressed and it’s much faster and much harder there’s a lot more guys on the on a high level um so more than ever so it’s um it’s amazing to be back in the the circus of procycling and really enjoying it and um good challenge you know with C here at a and we we’re here with a a probably one of the best lead outs that you know I’ve been part of uh even though I’m not a rider in the G working with morof who you know came through just after me and you know case b stepped up last year uh we’ve got you know some really talented bike riders ballerini was there with Cavin you know two years ago in quicker so I’m excited so all’s on the all’s looking positive yeah we’re positive we’re definitely positive and um yeah definitely thinking positive because we know we have the experience and we just need maybe just things just to fall our way and we we’ll be there you off out with a team today can you still keep up Do The Old Pro leg still work a look on the flat I’ve got enough power but uh the moment it goes I feel the it’s pretty difficult to follow these guys now let’s talk about that lovely grein one yeah so that’s the new Willer vertical um it’s a climbing bike um it’s interesting because you go around and look at the bikes and aana had more variation in their bikes than I think basically any other team I’ve seen so far so that vertical was set up with 30 mil tires it had wider range gearing on it um yeah just really interesting to see it’s a climbing bike they’re saying they’re going to be using it on the gravel roads of well tusking it and when they hit the TOs area as well if I remember rightly yeah yeah precisely and there’s they’re also allowing a little bit of preference to the Riders like if they want to ride in the specific thing they can do that which is pretty interesting I think we’re not going to see C on the what’s it called vertical we’re not going to see Cav on the vertically are we no I don’t think so I think that’s going to be for the climbers out there enough yeah hey right tell that’s it from us isn’t it that’s it from us all right as always thank you for watching and enjoy your riding and enjoy the tour see you we’re good