The fastest bikes in Yorkshire: The winning bikes of the Road World Championship time trial

The time trial discipline, or the race of truth as it's often called, is unique in that all the bikes are built purely to be as fast as possible. They're designed to cut cleanly through the air with minimal drag and provide an aggressive position that puts the rider in a very low position. Comfortable and practical they are not. 

Here then is a look at some of the bikes on display in Yorkshire this weekend in UCI Road World Championships elite individual time trial. First, some results. 

The men’s race was won by Rohan Dennis, with Remco Evenepoel and Filippo Ganna taking silver and bronze. Alex Dowsett was the highest placed Brit in 5th.

The women’s race was won by Chloe Dygert Owen from the US, with Dutch riders Anna Van der Breggen and Annemiek Van Vleuten taking silver and bronze. Top placed Brit was Alice Barnes in 16th.

Here is Rohan Dennis’s BMC Timemachine. He was the only rider, as far as we can see, that wasn’t riding the correct sponsor bike.

- What’s going on with Rohan Dennis and his bike choice at the World Championships (and his helmet too)?

This is rare these days, but it's not unique. Linda Villumsen came into the spotlight for similar reasons, using a non-trade team bike to win the 2015 world championships. And Team GB riders used special bikes developed by British Cycling at the 2012 London Olympics. 

As far as we can see, all the other riders used their sponsor supplied bikes. 

Remco Evenepoel got silver, despite having a problem with a loose shoe after the start. He rides for Deceuninck-Quick Step so was riding the latest Specialized Shiv TT Disc bike.

In third place was Team Ineos rider Filippo Ganna, who was riding a stock Pinarello Bolide time trial bike. Well, mostly stock. That doesn’t look like a front wheel PRO produces. It look more like a Zipp NSW 454 front wheel with the hump shaped profile.

Chloe Dygert won the women’s race aboard a Felt time trail bike, with SRAM groupset and Zipp wheels. Felt sponsors the Sho-Air TWENTY20  she races for in the US.

Anna Van der Breggen races for Boels-Dolmans, a team sponsored by Specialized, so he was unsurprisingly racing the Specialized Shiv TT Disc bikes. It’s equipped with a SRAM groupset and Zipp wheels.

Rounding out the women’s podium was Annemiek Van Vleuten. Because she races for Mitchelton-Scott, she was using a Scott Plasma in her attempt to take the top spot.

Here are a few more bikes and riders of interest.

Victor Campenaert’s race didn’t go well, he dropped his chain. It looks like there’s just a single ring, with no front mech or chain guard. Risky, as it turned out.

He is the Hour Record holder, so his position has been refined over many hours of testing.

Kasper Asgreen of Quick-Step was riding the latest Specialized Shiv TT bike, equipped with disc brakes and a disc rear wheel. It’s likely he was also using new tubeless clincher tyres, something Specialized has devoted a lot of development time to.

Primoz Roglic  is a strong rider against the clock, not strong enough on this day. Still, he has just own the Vuelta so he might understandably be fatigued. He stuck with team issue Bianchi time trial bike with PRO disc wheel and tri-spoke front wheel. Nice compact position with low armrests.

Chad Haga rides for Team Sunweb so was an Cervelo P5 time trial bike with disc brakes. He’s got a good position, achieve with a small stack of spacers under his armrests.

Stefen Kung is handy in the time trial, being a 3x national champion. He races for Groupama–FDJ and they are sponsored by Lapierre.

Team Ineos rider Dylan van Baarle looks scrunched up on his Pinarello Bolide TT bike.

You’d have a sad face if you had to wear that helmet.

All photos © SWpix.com