Specialized set tongues wagging this week with the release of the new Crux 5 gravel bike, but it seems the brand could have another new bike in development.
An image shared on the Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe team photographer's Instagram page, now deleted and first spotted by our friends at Bikeradar, shows images from a team time trial session in Spain where a mystery black road machine was racked up on a team car.
There is only one image to go off, but could this model be a prototype of a new Tarmac? The current Tarmac SL8 launched at the Glasgow World Championships in 2023, and rumours of the new SL9 have been circling for some time; this bike looks different enough to make us suspect it could be a new bike.
It's hard to see everything from the image, but the bike on the team car appears to have a different, deeper, wider fork crown and headtube area, as well as a clearly different seat tube that's profiled more tightly around the rear wheel.
The bike also had what seems to be quite a bulky rear light fitted, perhaps a radar/camera unit, or a new piece of tech from Specialized.
Specialized provided Cyclingnews with a statement regarding the unknown road machine, saying, "Specialized relies on feedback from professional athletes in both developing and testing advanced pre-production products in real-world applications.
"With this top-level feedback, some of these design elements and products eventually show up in future retail product offerings. We call this Project Black.“
A post shared by Maximilian Fries (@friesoooooo)
A photo posted by on
Tour preperations are underway
The team were time-trial training in Granada, Spain. Surely preparation ahead of the Tour de France Stage 1 team time trial, which takes place in Barcelona.
A few team riders' time trial handlebars were fitted with some kind of sensor, possibly to measure real-world CDA or similar. Some riders' wheels also appeared to have some kind of tape over part of the Roval logo, possibly tying into this testing.
It seems plausible that a new Specialized road bike is at least in development; we tend to see a lot of new bikes and equipment at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (previously the Criterium du Dauphine) ahead of the Tour.
Both races are fast approaching; we will be keeping an eye out for any new developments from Specialized in the run-up and during them.
