How much has bike tech changed in 16 years?
Having achieved a record-breaking 35th stage win at this year’s Tour de France, Mark Cavendish will – as far as we know – soon close the book on his illustrious career.
Over the course of a career spanning almost two decades, bike tech has changed dramatically.
Cavendish’s first Tour de France stage win was taken in 2008 aboard a prototype Giant TCR Advanced SL. Complete with external cable routing, rim brakes, narrow tubular wheels and tyres, and 10-speed mechanical gears, it truly was something from another era.
With the 2024 Tour being his last, any remaining stage wins will come aboard a custom-painted Wilier Filante SLR.
Aerodynamically optimised with integrated everything, hydraulic disc brakes, 12-speed electronic gears, tubeless wheels and tyres, and so on, it’s every inch the modern race bike.
So, let’s take a walk down memory lane and compare Cav’s final Tour stage-winning bike to his first.
2008 – Prototype Giant TCR Advanced SL
At 39, Cavendish is older than many things in professional cycling, but the Giant TCR isn’t one of them.
Having debuted at the highest level in 2000, the Giant TCR was already a WorldTour (or ProTour, as it was known back then) veteran by the time a young Mark Cavendish joined T-Mobile Team in 2006.
The Manx Missile first rode the Tour in 2007 (the year Alberto Contador took his first yellow jersey), but had to wait until the following year to break his duck.
At the 2008 Tour, Cavendish rode a prototype version of what would become the 2009 Giant TCR Advanced SL.
Following trends of that era, Cavendish’s 2008 TCR was “significantly stiffer” and “lighter” than the previous model.
It carried a claimed frameset weight of 1,497g – which accounted for a painted size-medium frame and its integrated seatpost, an uncut fork, plus hardware.
Despite shedding more than 200g, Giant also claimed this TCR saw a 42 per cent jump in overall stiffness, and a 26 per cent improvement to its “pedalling rigidity”, compared to the outgoing version.
Our report from the time doesn’t mention aerodynamics, but the TCR’s integrated seatpost did get an aerodynamic profile – something that was fairly progressive at the time.
It does say, however, that Giant provided Cavendish’s team (Team Columbia–High Road) with TCRs that had custom geometry, with longer reach and lower stack, and steeper seat tube angles than those available to everyday riders.
Notably, Giant also claimed this version of the TCR was more comfortable than before – thanks to tweaks and improvements to its integrated seatpost.
Having owned a 2009 Giant TCR Advanced SL, though, I can tell you that it doesn’t compare to today’s plush road bikes with clearance for wider tyres.
Old-school Dura-Ace and rolling stock
Cavendish used a 10-speed Dura-Ace 7800 groupset to take his maiden Tour stage win.
Although 11-speed, mechanical Dura-Ace 7900 launched during the 2008 Tour, and was put to use during the race by his teammate Marcus Burghardt, Cavendish wasn’t the household name he would become and perhaps wasn’t favoured for new equipment at that point.
As noted in our feature on Cav’s green-jersey winning bikes in 2021, Shimano’s Di2 electronic shifting system wouldn’t debut until the following year.
With its external cable routing and predominantly polished-silver aesthetic, it’s fair to say it looks ‘classic’ and even old-fashioned by today’s standards (that’s not necessarily a bad thing).
As most riders of that era did, Cavendish used 53/39t chainrings paired with a tight 11-23t cassette.
Cav may have swapped to a wider-range cassette for big days in the mountains, but it’s worth remembering the biggest cassette available for Dura-Ace 7800 was a 12-27t and the only FC-7800 crankset option was for a ‘standard’ 130 (BCD) Bolt Circle DIameter – there was no ‘compact’ crankset.
The team used tubular wheels with deep-section rims, branded with decals bearing its team sponsors (Columbia and Highroad).
I suspect they could be a set of Zipp 404 or HED Stinger wheels, but it’s hard to be certain. Either way, the team was clearly looking for faster options than its stock Shimano Dura-Ace WH-7850-C50-TU wheels.
The team’s tyre sponsor for 2008 was Schwalbe, with Cavendish and his teammates using the German brand’s Ultremo tubulars in a skinny 22mm width.
It’s a measure of how far things have come that you’re unlikely to find tyres that narrow on a track bike these days, let alone a road racing bike.
External everything
In contrast to today’s fully integrated bikes, Cav’s 2008 Giant TCR had fully external cable routing and a non-integrated, aluminium front end.
Cav opted for a Pro PLT OS Road stem, in a 110mm length, paired with a Pro Vibe 7S Anatomic OS handlebar, in a 42cm width (centre-to-centre).
They’ve fallen out of favour now, but anatomic-bend road bike handlebars had a moment in the sun around this period – as classic bend handlebars went out of fashion, but before compact drop bars arrived.
Back when SRM ruled the peloton
Before the major groupset manufacturers began making their own power meters, SRM dominated the professional peloton (to an extent – not every rider chose to use a power meter at that point).
Shimano even provided the German brand with specially machined crank arms to fit its power meter spiders.
Cavendish’s Dura-Ace 7800 SRM power meter was also one of the first to go wireless, using ANT+ instead of a wired connection to the brand’s own head unit.
Finishing kit and weight
According to our report from the time, Cavendish used a Selle Italia Thoork Team Edition saddle – a model that no longer exists in 2024.
His bottle cages came courtesy of Elite, in the form of its Custom Macia model (which lives on as the slightly evolved Custom Race model), while Cav used Shimano’s aluminium Dura-Ace PD-7810 pedals.
All in, it apparently weighed 7.2kg. As we’ll come on to, that’s quite a bit lighter than his 2024 bike.
2024 – Custom-painted Wilier Filante SLR
For his final Tour de France (assuming he doesn’t ride next year), Cavendish is riding a custom-painted Wilier Filante SLR.
We’ve covered this bike in exhaustive detail in a hands-on feature, so check that out if you want to learn everything there is to know about Cavendish’s record-breaking bike.
Here, though, let’s compare and contrast it to the 2008 Giant TCR.
First, and perhaps most obviously, Cavendish gets a custom paintjob befitting of his glittering palmarès.
Instead of the team issue paintjob he rode in 2008, Cav’s 2024 bike evokes memories of some of his most important victories.
In terms of technology, the Filante SLR takes a markedly different approach to speed than the 2008 TCR.
Instead of focusing solely on stiffness and low weight, the Filante SLR uses truncated aerofoil shapes throughout to make it efficient at cutting through the wind, without sacrificing in those other areas.
It’s a formula often repeated in 2024, as aero road bikes and climbing bikes have fallen somewhat out of fashion, in favour of all-rounder models that combine low weight and aerodynamic efficiency in a single package.
12-speed electronic gears and hydraulic disc brakes
Beyond the frameset, the most obvious change compared to Cav’s 2008 bike is the move to hydraulic disc brakes and an electronic groupset.
These undoubtedly contribute extra weight – as far as I can work out, a Dura-Ace 7800 groupset weighed around 2,200g, whereas Shimano’s latest Dura-Ace Di2 R9200 groupset weighs a little more than 2,500g.
The improved stopping power and all-weather performance they offer almost certainly outweighs the small weight gain for most average riders, but would Cavendish prefer a lighter rim-brake equipped bike if he had the choice?
We’ll likely never know, but if I had to guess I would say I suspect not.
Sprinters such as Cavendish are often demon descenders (due to the need to finish within the time cut on the big mountain stages). The improved stopping power and all-weather reliability of disc brakes compared to rim brakes – especially when carbon rims are involved – is something these types of riders can take advantage of.
Likewise, while electronic shifting doesn’t offer incredible performance gains in terms of speed or reliability, the latest wireless shifters certainly allow for a cleaner, more aerodynamic cockpit.
Beyond that, Cavendish has 12 instead of 10 sprockets at the rear and a much wider-ranging set of gears.
At the rear, Cavendish is now using an 11-34t cassette, while up-front he has 55/40t chainrings. While his climbing gears have got easier, Cavendish’s top gear is harder than before.
While easier climbing gears have been coming to road bikes of all kinds in recent years, big chainrings have been a notable trend at the top level of the sport of late.
Wide wheels and tyres
Cavendish and most other pro riders are also now using substantially wider wheels and tyres.
For 2024, he used Vision’s Metron 60 SL wheels with Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres, in a size 700x28c.
With a claimed weight of 1,590g, the tubeless-ready Vision wheels are likely heavier than the tubular wheels Cavendish used in 2008. However, with their blunted aerofoil profile and wide rims (33mm external, 21mm internal), they’re likely both faster and easier to handle on windy days.
Likewise, the wide, tubeless Vittoria tyres may be heavier than the 22mm Schwalbe tubs, but they almost certainly have far less rolling resistance and offer much more grip.
Finishing kit and weight
In stark contrast to his 2008 Giant TCR, Cavendish’s Filante SLR has a fully integrated and aerodynamically-optimised front end.
His handlebar of choice for 2024 is Vision’s Metron 5D ACR Integrated 3K model, with aerodynamic tops and compact-bend drops.
His stem length has grown by 10mm to 120mm, but his bar width has narrowed to 385mm (centre to centre at the brake hoods), with a slight flare to the drops.
While the Dura-Ace shifters are wireless, the hydraulic brake hoses run internally through the handlebar and into the frame via the upper headset bearing, where they are concealed until they reach the brakes at the fork and non-driveside chainstay.
At this year’s Tour, Cavendish is using a Fizik Arione saddle (with the branding covered up because his Astana Qazaqstan team is sponsored by Prologo), while he’s also been switching between Tacx Ciro Carbon bottle cages and Tacx Aero water bottles and cages, depending on the stage.
A set of composite Shimano Dura-Ace PD-R9100 pedals completes the bike. Although these have switched to a composite pedal body, they’re otherwise largely unchanged from the 7800 model Cavendish was using back in 2008, with the same SPD-SL cleats.
On the scales, Cavendish’s 2024 Wilier Filante weighed 7.74kg – around 500g more than his bike from 2008.
Does that represent progress? That depends on your perspective, of course, but we’re confident his latest bike is most likely the faster option and, for a sprinter, that’s what matters.
Is this really the end of the road for Mark Cavendish?
There have been a number of times when it looked as if Mark Cavendish might be about to end his career in professional cycling.
Fans of the sport may remember an emotional interview he gave in October 2020, after finishing Gent-Wevelgem, because – at the time – he didn’t have a contract for the following season.
After securing a contract with Deceuninck–Quick-Step (reportedly for the UCI’s minimum salary of €40,000, and on condition he bring personal sponsors on board), Cavendish went on another remarkable streak at the 2021 Tour de France, winning four stages and taking his second green jersey as the winner of the points classification.
Could we see something similar in 2025? We’ll have to wait and see.
If we’ve learned anything about Mark Cavendish, it’s that he’s not finished until he says he is.