Matej Mohorič is one of several Slovenian cycling superstars that have helped to elevate the small nation to the upper echelons of the cycling world. Alongside Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar, and Giro d’Italia winner Primož Roglič, Mohorič stands out as more of a one-day race specialist or stage hunter. He’s taken stages at all three grand tours, but most famously perhaps was his first Monument victory at Milan-San Remo where he used a dropper post to drop like a stone off the Poggio to create his race-winning gap.
Not a man then who is afraid to make changes to his setup if he thinks it’ll bring him closer to victory, so one we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on at upcoming races.
What is Matej Mohorič’s bike for 2023?
As a rider prone to riding in an extremely aerodynamic and aggressive position, it’s no surprise to see him using the Reacto, Merida’s aero-optimised road bike. A full Shimano Dura-Ace groupset takes care of power transfer and braking, while the wheels and cockpit are provided by team sponsor Vision.
Despite using some unusual setups in the past, this bike, which we were given access to in advance of Mohorič’s third-place ride at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, is a relatively standard setup. It is, however, slammed as far as it is possible to go, even beyond the ‘advised’ setup from Merida.
What size is Matej Mohorič’s bike
While we haven’t managed to get official confirmation as to exactly what size bike he is riding, to our eyes, it looks like a 56cm frame. This, combined with a long stem, would certainly fit with his 6ft 1in frame, along with the 175mm cranks.
Matej Mohorič’s Merida Reacto Team: Specifications
| Frame | Merida Reacto (56cm) |
| Groupset | Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9250 12-speed |
| Brakes | Shimano Dura-Ace 9270 hydraulic disc |
| Wheelset | Vision Metron 60 SL |
| Tyres | Continental GP5000 S TR |
| Cockpit | Vision Metron 5D (400mm x 140mm) |
| Chainset | Shimano Dura ace FC-9200P – 54/40T – 175MM |
| Power meter | Shimano Dura ace FC-9200P |
| Pedals | Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 |
| Saddle | Prologo Scratch M5 PAS |
| Bottle cages | Elite Custom Race Plus |
| Bar tape | Prologo Onetouch |
| Computer Mount | Vision |
To begin with the frame; the Merida Reacto is the Taiwanese brand’s best aero road bike. It’s got all the hallmarks of a frame designed to cheat the wind: Deep tubes shaped with truncated aerofoil profiles, dropped seat stays, a nearly horizontal top tube. To compliment this, Mohorič has opted to run 60mm deep Vision Metron wheels, which we recently tested in a wind tunnel. These are tubeless, with tubeless Continental GP5000 S TR tyres fitted. Perhaps we’ll see him swap to the new Continental GP5000 models in different races this season.
The drivetrain is as per so many other pro bikes we’ve seen recently; a full suite of Shimano Dura-Ace components, including the crankset (with a dual sided power meter), shifters, brakes, cassette and chain. This is near ubiquitous amongst the WorldTour teams, with only a handful using Campagnolo or SRAM drivetrains. His pedals, too, are Dura-Ace models. What is noteworthy, as it is with Tom Pidcock’s bike, is that Mohorič is also opting to use the older generation 11sp chainrings and cassette. This is perhaps due to what appears to be an increased risk of chain drops with the new 12sp system.
Up front, he uses a 140mm long ‘stem’ as part of a one-piece cockpit. This is pretty long, up there with what we’ve seen on Michael Matthews’ bike, but allows the Slovenian to make use of a smaller frame than someone of his height might normally opt for. This is usually done for weight savings, to get a shorter wheelbase for faster handling, and to give the riders a more aero position over the front of the bike.
There’s an interesting dichotomy at the front end of the bike; Mohorič is a rider with a keen eye on aerodynamics. The stem is slammed flush with the headtube to allow him to get as low as possible, and yet he’s still opting to use 400mm wide bars. We’ve seen on Tadej Pogacar’s bike and Remco Evenepoel’s bike a trend to run narrower bars and turn the hoods inwards to allow a narrower frontal profile. Perhaps Mohorič, who appears to have slightly broader shoulders than those two aforementioned riders, just feels more comfortable on the wider setup.
The touchpoints are both from Prologo. A Scratch saddle with a cutout provides posterior comfort, while the bar tape is the Onetouch design, featuring small raised nodules throughout. His saddle is shifted rather far forward, in contrast to what we’ve seen on Tom Pidcock’s bike, indicating that he’s at least not using a frame size wildly too small for him and simply wants to position himself as far over the bottom bracket as possible.
A few final details are a rear derailleur cable held in place with a sliced-up inner tube to prevent it getting snagged in a crash, and a race transponder held onto the fork leg with some more inner tube offcuts. The bottle cages are Elite Custom Race Plus, and they hold Elite Fly bottles.
History
Mohorič began his WorldTour career with Cannondale in 2014 aboard a SuperSix Evo, which he continued to ride when the team became Cannondale-Garmin in 2015 (albeit with a different livery). In 2016 he joined Lampre-Merida, and barring one year on Colnago at UAE Team Emirates in 2017, he has used Merida bikes ever since.
| Year | Team | Main bike |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-23 | Bahrain-Victorious | Merida Reacto/Scultura |
| 2020 | Bahrain McLaren | Merida Reacto/Scultura |
| 2018-19 | Bahrain Merida | Merida Reacto/Scultura |
| 2017 | UAE Team Emirates | Colnago C60 |
| 2016 | Lampre-Merida | Merida Reacto/Scultura |
| 2015 | Cannondale-Garmin | Cannondale SuperSix Evo |
| 2014 | Cannondale | Cannondale SuperSix Evo |
Matej Mohorič’s 2022 Milan-San Remo bike
Mohorič caused quite a stir when he won Milan-San Remo in 2022, for several reasons. Initially, his daredevil descending off the Poggio had everyone aghast, almost as much as Tom Pidcock’s crazy descent of Tuna Canyon. Latterly though he caused a stir for tech reasons when it was revealed that he was running a MTB dropper post to allow him to get lower, and therefore descend faster thanks to the added aero benefits and lower centre of gravity.
His bike for the race was relatively stock besides the dropper, which was a Fox Transfer SL. It’s claimed to be the lightest on the market. It’s a wireless system, with the control ring situated on the right-hand side of his drops where he can easily access it while descending.
There doesn’t seem to have been any uptake in dropper post usage since his Monument win, perhaps due to the propensity of most modern top-end race bikes to use proprietary, non-round seatposts. This hasn’t stopped him from opting to use it again for the 2023 edition though; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?