Racing for Slovenia, Tadej Pogačar will take to the start line for the men’s world championship road race in Zurich on Sunday on a special, limited edition Colnago V4Rs Tadej.
Pogačar is hot favourite to win the road race on Sunday, adding to his wins in the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France earlier this year. If he wins, he will be only the third male cyclist after Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche to to take cycling's triple crown by winning the Giro, Tour and Worlds in one year. Annemiek van Vleuten is the only woman to achieve the equivalent in women’s racing.
Despite withdrawing from the Paris Olympic road race due to fatigue, Pogačar looks to have returned to top form on his most recent outings, riding away from the field to win the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal in mid-September.
His bike for the World Championships comes in almost-rainbow colours, maybe pre-empting a potential victory. Colnago says that the colour scheme is inspired by all the successes Pogačar has already achieved in his pro career and that the design emulates Pop Art from the 1950s and 60s, with Pogačar being a huge fan of the movement – major figures included Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
The design’s colours include yellow, white, and polka dots for Pogačar‘s Tour jerseys, pink for the Giro, green for Il Lombardia, blue for Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico (and the Giro KoM), and bronze for his Olympic and World Championships third places.
There’s also some purple, as Pogačar has previously stated that you always need something purple in your life. There are TP logos embedded in the design too.
Spec-wise, the bike is almost the same as that which Pogačar rides for UAE Team Emirates, just with a new colour scheme, different tyres, and colour matching Enve wheels. Other go-faster component details carried over from Pogačar's team bike include special carbon chainrings on the Shimano Dura-Ace cranks, bottle cage bolts, X-rotor disc brake rotors and superlight thru-axles, all made by specialist Italian manufacturer Carbon-Ti.
The Prologo Nago R4 Nack 147 saddle has also had the special edition treatment, incorporating the names of some of Pogačar‘s most important victories – and the obligatory yellow accents. Even the mech hanger is a special edition.
The complete Colnago V4Rs Tadej limited edition bike is available to buy in seven sizes exclusively on Colnago’s site between 26 September and 14 October and via Colnago retailers after 14 October. Complete with Shimano Dura-Ace, Enve SES 4.5 wheels and Colnago CC.01 bars, looking like Pogačar will set you back a cool €17,200.
