The Tour de France winning bike! Jonas Vingegaard's Cervelo S5

Jumbo-Visma raced the Tour de France on a yet-to-be-announced update to the Cervelo S5. We took a closer look at Jonas Vingegaard's bike before the race got underway.

At last year's race, Jonas Vingegaard, the relatively unknown Danish domestique of Primoz Roglic, ended up as Jumbo Visma's leader after the latter crashed heavily in the opening week. After finishing 2nd in last year's race, the Dane has gone one better, winning the 2022 Tour de France with a dominant display in the mountains.

Cervelo had a full yellow S5 frameset tucked away for the final stage which was built up after Vingegaard had sealed victory in the penultimate stage.

When you win the Tour de France, you've got to keep the sponsors happy, so there's no room for components that have been battered in the spring classics.

A brand new Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 groupset was installed onto the glossy frame and while the opening kilometers of the final stage are a procession, the laps around Paris are still a full-gas bike race. As a result, Vingegaard has the new pro-standard 54/40T chainrings paired with what looks to us to be an 11-30T cassette.

The bike is equipped with the latest R9200-P power meter cranks from Shimano and new Dura-Ace pedals have been installed.

The Dura-Ace theme continues with the wheels, with the mechanics installing the C60 for the fast and flat laps around Paris. The wheels are tubular and Vittoria's Corsa G2.0 look lovely with their tan sidewalls.

Adding to this special paint job is the phrase 'Jonas vinder gult', a play on Vingegaard's name and, when translated from Danish, reads 'Jonas wins yellow'. Clever.

Racing for 3 weeks can make you really tired, so just in case he forgets his own name, there's a helpful tip on the top tube.

The S5 that the team have now been riding for a while initially looks a lot like the existing model although it appears that Cervelo has taken advantage of changes to UCI equipment rules and made many of the elements deeper in profile: the head tube, down tube, seat tube and seat post have all had that treatment.

The fork legs could be a little deeper than previously too – although we wouldn’t swear to it – and the fork crown certainly extends further backwards.

Viewed from the front, the external fork steerer appears to have been slimmed down.

Further back, there’s now more of a slope at the junction between the top tube and the seat tube than on the previous S5, and the whole bottom bracket area extends higher.

The seatstays are a slightly different shape from before and the Di2 wire exits the frame at a higher point above the dropout.

Read our review of the existing Cervelo S5 Ultegra Di2 Disc

We won’t analyse every part of the frame and fork but it’s probably safe to say that the designers have taken the existing S5 and pushed the dimensions as far as the new rules allow in search of aero gains, although we’ll have to wait for the official release to find out for sure.

The S5 that’s in Cervelo’s 2022 range was introduced in the 2019 model year with the company claiming an aero saving of 5.5 watts (42g of drag) over the 2014 version at 40km/h (25mph).

“The most noticeable visual and performance change comes at the front of the bike,” said Cervelo. “An entirely re-conceptualised aero cockpit achieves significant improvements in aero performance. Fully-internal cable routes are provided for both electrical and mechanical shifting while maintaining ease of adjustments. Slip-in spacers can be used to adjust stem height and bar tilt without detaching any cables, making adjustment far simpler than in a typical aero bike.

This remains relevant because the cockpits on Jumbo-Visma’s latest S5s look similar in shape, if not identical to previously.

“Importantly, the V-shaped stem made it possible to fully hide mechanical shifting cables,” said Cervelo. “The stem was specifically designed to minimise the angle of cable bends, so riders get both perfect shifting/braking and the full aero benefit of hidden cables.”

As well as hiding the cables, the V-shaped geometry of the stem is designed “to present less obstruction to the oncoming high-velocity airflow between the rider’s arms”. The idea is that this high-velocity flow of air is maintained along the top tube, through the thighs of the rider, and past the seat post. 

Team Jumbo-Visma’s bikes are built up with the latest 12-speed Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9200 groupsets. Jonas Vingegaard’s bike shown here includes the latest incarnation of the power meter.

Read our review of the Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 groupset

Jumbo-Visma’s wheels come from Shimano too. These are Dura-Ace C50s on Vingegaard’s and Van Aert’s bikes, fitted with Vittoria Corsa tyres.

The saddles come from Fizik, each rider opting for carbon-railed Antares.