Tadej Pogačar secured his record-equalling fifth Tour de France title on a custom yellow Colnago Y1Rs after battling Mathieu van der Poel for victory in the final stage in Paris. The Dutchman narrowly held off a stampeding group to win his second stage in a pulsating finale on the Champs-Élysées.
The Slovenian rode a raw carbon version of the Italian brand's aero bike to save weight in the previous 20 stages. But he switched paint to commemorate his third consecutive yellow jersey, which drew him level with Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain on five Tour de France wins.
Six of Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates also received yellow bikes, including Brandon McNulty, who abandoned the race. Isaac del Toro rode a white Y1Rs to match the colour of the Young Rider's jersey he won on his way to third overall.
Colnago painted the frames at its facility in Pisa and added a collection of details specific to the 113th edition of the race to make the frames truly one of a kind.
The elevation profile of the route from Barcelona to Paris runs along the seat stays and the names of every team member are written on the top tube.
Each rider's bike has his national flag on the seat tube and the years of Pogačar's Tour de France victories on the head tube are displayed when the handlebars turn.
Pogačar's frame also carries rainbow flags in honour of his road race world title on the top tube, head tube and seat tube where Y1Rs is spelt out in Morse Code.
Colnago says each frame is one of a kind and they are not for sale. It will not make replicas either.
In terms of the components, the full bike is built to the original specification level of the bike Pogačar and his team raced to Paris. As such, the Colnago Y1Rs is built around a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset with Carbon-Ti taking care of the chainrings and derailleur hanger. As the final stages took in just 88.7km/1,000m of climbing over a shortened course, the Slovenian kept his gearing configuration unchanged at 55/40T, 11-34T with 165mm cranks.
To ensure uniformity across the board, the team paired his Enve SES 4.5 Pro wheels with yellow decals, and switched out all the red anodised Carbon-Ti hardware for the golden equivalent. His golden Bikone ceramic bottom bracket remained unchanged owing to its already complementing colour scheme.
Other details included a yellow Wahoo Elment Bolt with matching Elite Leggero Carbon cages and bidons. Pogačar also matched his shoes with yellow laces and wore a yellow Whoop strap.
