Hands on with Sandra Alonso’s Orbea Orca OMX

By Ashley Quinlan

Published: Friday, 28 July 2023 at 16:00 PM


Orbea launched the new Orca last week and it’s making its top-flight racing debut under Ceratizit-WNT riders at the 2023 Tour de France Femmes.

The new Orbea Orca prioritises climbing ability and handling prowess over out-and-out aero performance, in a move contrary to the popular one-bike-to-rule-them-all formula.

The team has seen some success to date in the race, with French road time trial champion Cedrine Kerbaol wearing the white jersey for the youth classification since the start of stage two.

Sandra Alonso has also scored a top-ten stage finish so far, as the team hunts for opportunities to factor at the front of the field while supporting Kerbaol in her general classification aspirations.

Shimano Dura-Ace drivetrain with FSA power meter crankset

The new Orbea Orca makes its racing debut at the Tour de France Femmes.
The team pairs Shimano Dura-Ace components with FSA cranksets.
Matt Grayson / Our Media

Alonso’s bike is adorned in a Shimano Dura-Ace R9270 Di2 groupset, with her power measured through FSA’s Power Box dual-sided ] crankset.

The Tour de France Femmes 2023 Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling new Orbea Orca. It is brand new for this tour. Alice Maria Arzuffi has titanium screws for the lighter climbers in the team
The 52/36 chainrings are held in place with neat titanium bolts.

The crankset features all-carbon crank arms, with semi-compact 52/36-tooth rings.

This is paired with an 11-30 tooth cassette, which offers plenty of range for the rolling parcours of the Tour de France Femme’s opening stages. We expect riders will swap to something with increased range once the race hits the mountains.

The Tour de France Femmes 2023 Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling new Orbea Orca. It is brand new for this tour. It has new lighter wheels, lighter stem and a Matt paint finish and no clear coat to reduce weight.
Angled levers are commonplace among men’s and women’s pro pelotons as riders hunt for potentially crucial aero advantages.

Up front, the Dura-Ace lever hoods have been angled inwards quite sharply in a bid to improve Alanso’s aerodynamic performance.

Orbea and Prologo contact points

The Tour de France Femmes 2023 Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling new Orbea Orca. It is brand new for this tour. It has a lighter stem
The cockpit all comes from Orbea’s OC line.

Alonso has chosen to use Orbea’s OC aero carbon handlebar (as opposed to the standard round OC bar most Orcas will be sold with).

This is paired with an OC alloy stem. This features an integrated out-front computer mount set up to run the team’s Wahoo bike computers.

The Tour de France Femmes 2023 Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling new Orbea Orca. It is brand new for this tour. It has new lighter wheels, lighter stem and a Matt paint finish and no clear coat to reduce weight.
Alonso races with dossard 192 this year.

Alonso also runs Orbea’s setback carbon seatpost, with the Prologo Dimension Nack saddle fitted relatively far forward on its rails.

Alonso uses Speedplay pedals, with parent brand Wahoo listed as an official team sponsor.

In-house rolling stock

The Tour de France Femmes 2023 Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling new Orbea Orca. It is brand new for this tour. It has new lighter wheels, lighter stem and a Matt paint finish and no clear coat to reduce weight.
New Oquo carbon wheels adorn the Ceratizit-WNT rider’s bike.

Until recently, the team has used Vision Metron wheels. That has changed since the start of this year’s Tour de France Femmes, with new Oquo wheels taking centre stage.

The Oquo brand is the house brand of Orbea.

Alonso has opted for the mid-range RP 35 TEAM wheelset.

We’re not sure why the team wouldn’t opt for the top-of-the-range LTD spec wheels, which feature upgraded Zipp Cognition hubs (the rims are the same on both models).

The Tour de France Femmes 2023 Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling new Orbea Orca. It is brand new for this tour. It has new lighter wheels, lighter stem and a Matt paint finish and no clear coat to reduce weight.
The rims are marked up as Oquo’s second-tier models – the LTD range tops the bill.

If her choice is limited to the TEAM-spec wheels, she’ll be locked into either these 35mm models or 45mm alternatives.

Should the LTD-spec wheels be hidden away in the team truck, riders have the choice of 35, 45 or 57mm deep rims.

The wheels are set up tubeless with 700x28c Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres. These have a 320TPI (thread-per-inch) cotton casing.

The personal touch

The Tour de France Femmes 2023 Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling new Orbea Orca. It is brand new for this tour. It has new lighter wheels, lighter stem and a Matt paint finish and no clear coat to reduce weight.
Is a pro bike a pro bike without a motivational slogan?

Alonso’s obligatory name sticker is fitted to the upper section of the driveside seat stay, with transponders fitted to the underside of the saddle and taped to the right fork leg.

Although the bike doesn’t feature a customised paint job, Alonso has provided herself with a Spanish slogan in Spanish on her top tube, which reads “Vamos Bebita!!! Y de verdad, que es muy importante!!!” (“Come on baby!!! And really, that is very important!!!”, according to our own Spanish-speaking Pete Sampson).

Whether this is a message from a loved one, or simply some positive self-talk, is unclear. But if it works for her, then it’s a thumbs up from us.