Tadej Pogacar continues to show at the start of 2023 that he is the cyclist to beat in the big races of the peloton and a clear example of this is the victory in the fourth stage of Paris-Nice against his great rival Jonas Vingegaard.
However, Several personalities from the world of cycling believe that Pogacar could achieve even greater performance on the road if he changed one of the key pieces of his success: his bicycle.
In Sporza’s ‘Wielerclub Wattage’ podcast, figures such as Dirk De Wolf or former world champion Tom Boonen criticized that Pogacar raced with a Colnago bicycle instead of brands like Cervélo, Pinarello or Specialized. “If Tadej Pogacar were to get on a Jumbo-Visma, Ineos or Soudal Quick-Step bike, the other riders won’t have a chance. On those bikes he will pedal two 2 km/h faster. Colnago has a good bike, but it’s like a Ferrari and a Porsche: there’s still a lot of difference between the machines,” De Wolf said.
For his part, Boonen believes that there is still a difference between the main bicycle brands and the rest and pointed out that the Colnago are still ‘old school’ bicycles. “Between the top five manufacturers there are few differences, but when you compare them with ten other brands, there is still a difference in quality. Colnago is still an old school bike and they haven’t quite mastered aerodynamics yet, although they are catching up now.”
Colnago invites Boonen to test its bikes
As a result of the controversy caused by the statements by De Wolf and Boonen, the bicycle brand Colnago has issued a statement this Wednesday in which they respond to his words about their bicycles.
In the statement, the bicycle brand invites De Wolf and Boonen to test their V4Rs bikes and give a public opinion about it. A test that, if carried out, would be done in the days prior to the Milan-San Remo dispute on March 18.
Nicola Rosin, CEO of Colnago also responded to the statements about their bikes. “The performance of the UAE Emirates is the highest priority for Colnago. That is why we have invested millions of euros and a lot of time in developing our bicycles. We work hand-in-hand with UAE Emirates and UAE ADQ, first to meet the requests they have for our bikes and then to make sure that what we have developed is the best we can give them. We are in contact with the teams every day and have never heard a complaint about the competitiveness of our bikes. In fact, they are delighted with the equipment we supply them.”