The team will also use ENVE wheels and components
ENVE will provide Team TotalEnergies with its Melee road bike, wheels and components for the next two seasons.
TotalEnergie previously used Specialized bikes, but ENVE will expand its presence in professional road cycling with the new partnership.
ENVE says it will continue to provide the WorldTour team UAE Team Emirates with its SES wheels and SES Aero One-Piece handlebar.
Ivan Basso and Alberto Contador’s project, Team Polti Kometa, will also remain on ENVE wheels.
The ENVE Melee’s professional debut
Before releasing the Custom Road in 2021, ENVE had focused on producing wheels and other components, such as handlebars, stems and forks.
The Melee, released in July 2022, was the brand’s second bike. Unlike the Custom Road, which can be configured to your specific needs, ENVE chose to produce the Melee in a more conventional range of seven sizes.
The partnership between Team TotalEnergies and ENVE will be the first time the Melee has been raced in the professional peloton.
Team TotalEnergies manager Jean-René Bernaudeau says the team were already familiar with ENVE’s wheels, but discussions with ENVE’s engineers began in October.
“Our technicians and riders were impressed by the responsiveness of ENVE. The tests carried out by our riders were more than positive and everyone, unanimously, recognised the very high technology of the bikes,” says Bernaudeau.
ENVE general manager Mike Stimola says: “We’ve earned a reputation as the leader in wheel and component technology, and to now add ENVE bicycles to the professional peloton with TotalEnergies is an important step as a performance brand.”
The ENVE Melee, which won BikeRadar’s Performance Bike of the Year 2023 award, arguably bucks the trend of the best road bikes found in the professional peloton.
Ashley Quinlan points out in his ENVE Melee review that the bike has a more upright position than the stretched-out position one would expect to find on pro bikes.
However, as Ashley says, the Cannondale SuperSix EVO, used by EF Education-EasyPost and EF Education-Tibco-SVB, is taller still.
What other ENVE components will Team TotalEnergies use?
Team TotalEnergies will have a range of ENVE components to pair with the $5,500 Melee frameset.
ENVE says the team will use its one-piece or two-piece cockpit, including the SES Aero Road Bar and SES AR (All Road) Bar.
The team will also have access to ENVE’s range of road bike wheels, with four options to hand of varying rim depths.
The riders will pick from the ENVE SES 2.3, 3.4, 4.5 and 6.7 wheelsets.
ENVE’s numerical naming convention refers to the rim depths of asymmetric wheelsets. For instance, the ENVE SES 4.5 has a front wheel with a 49mm-deep rim and a rear wheel with a 55mm-deep rim.