Roglic spotted on possible 2021 Cervelo R6 road race bike - here’s what we know

Primoz Roglic, Jumbo Visma’s Grand Tour racer and results machine has been spotted aboard what is likely to be the 2021 Cervelo R6. Here’s what we know about the bike.

While we have asked Cervelo for a comment about the new bike, they’re remaining very tight-lipped. They can’t tell us anything about the new bike, not even its name.

Deeper Head tube for all-internal

If we compare the side profiles of the headtube area, it’s clear to see how much deeper the headtube is on the new bike. While it could be that this area has been made deeper to make a bit more room for internal cable routing, we’d also expect that Cervelo is looking to push the aero saving on this new frameset and the deeper shape will be an attempt to cheat the wind a little.

> Review: Cervélo R5 Disc

Skinny front profile to head tube

The next thing to note is the way that the headtube tapers in aggressively between the upper and lower headset bearings. This could be more to do with the upper headset bearing having become larger to accommodate the internal routing of the cabling than the central part of the headtube becoming slimmer, but we’d expect that aero has quite a bit to do with the hourglass shape.

Roglic switches from Vision Metron bar to FSA two-piece

While Roglic has used Vision’s Metron carbon integrated bar/stem for a while, he has switched to a standard two-piece bar and stem on the new bike with a traditional round bar replacing the aero Metron.

ACR Headset system

The FSA stem gives us a clue as to how Cervelo is routing the cables down through the headtube. The FSA ACR stem was designed to be used with the ACR headset system. This has been around for quite a while and uses a special slotted compression ring that sits between the fork steerer tube and the upper headset bearing to allow the cables to pass through.

Will Cervelo offer mechanical shifting on the new bike? The FSA system allows for it, but Cervelo may yet make the new bike electronic shifting only.

Tiny seatstays big chainstays

To get stiffness where it is needed and compliance in the correct area, Cervelo continues with the R5’s skinny seat stays and deep chainstays.

Those seatstays also look like they flow directly into the top tube which looks lovely and will undoubtedly please many who aren’t fans of the current fashion for dropped stays.

Tidy seatpost clamp tightened from the rear

While we’re at the back of the bike, the shots that we’ve seen show that, as before, the seatpost clamp will be neatly hidden and will also be tightened from the rear.

Tyre clearance looks large

Another fashion for the current crop of road race bikes is actually one that we really like. Frames are being designed to take wide tyres and the Cervelo looks like it will be able to fit at least a 28mm tyre.

For the pros, wider tyres are said to roll faster but for the rest of us, the comfort benefits of being able to run lower pressures and the added cornering grip that comes with it are the real selling points.

So, that’s what we can see. What do you want to see from the new Cervelo? Is this balance of aero and, presumably, low weight the sweetspot for normal riders? Would having Roglic’s power for a day be great fun? Suggestions in the comments, please.