UAE Team Emirates’ bike sponsor, Colnago, is holding back Tadej Pogačar, according to retired Classics specialist Tom Boonen.
Speaking alongside fellow Belgian and former Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Dirk De Wolf on the Flemish Wielerclub Wattage (opens in new tab) podcast, the pair discussed the quality of manufacturers in the peloton today.
“He’d ride decisively faster on those bikes,” started De Wolf, referencing a previous quote in which he’d said that if Pogačar was given the bike of Team Jumbo-Visma, Ineos Grenadiers or Soudal-QuickStep, then his competitors wouldn’t stand a chance. “Cervélo, S-Works, Pinarello, [if he rode those,] then he would ride a few more watts faster and better.”
UAE Team Emirates have been sponsored by the Italian brand Colnago ever since the team transformed from Lampre-Merida ahead of the 2017 season. Pogačar has been with the team for his entire WorldTour career, joining in 2019 from Slovenian outfit Ljubljana Gusto Xaurum at just 20 years of age. During that time, he’s enjoyed a prodigious career aboard the brand, winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège himself, alongside the Tour de France, Il Lombardia and Tirreno-Adriatico twice each, plus Strade Bianche and more.
Jumbo Visma have ridden aboard Cervélo bikes since switching from Bianchi in 2021. Ineos have been with Pinarello since their inception in 2010, while Soudal-QuickStep have ridden Specialized bikes since 2006 – a season in which Boonen himself won the Tour de France sprinters’ classification aboard the Tarmac SL2 – and will continue to do so until at least 2027.
“I think Tom [Boonen] can very easily answer what the difference is between a very good bike, a slightly inferior bike, and a top bike,” De Wolf continued. “It’s like a Ferrari and a Porsche, there’s a difference. Tom?”
“I think [within] a top five of manufacturers, there is little difference [between] them,” Boonen responded. “There is of course always an order to it, but indeed, there is still a lot of difference between a top five and a top 10 or 15.”
Asked if he considered Colnago outside of that top five, Boonen agreed. “Yes. Colnago is catching up, but it’s still an old-school bike, and they haven’t quite mastered that super-hyper-aero stuff yet.”
Boonen’s criticism comes just months after Colnago launched two new top-tier bikes, which Pogačar will hope helps him to clinch his – and perhaps notably, also Colnago’s – third Tour de France victory this summer. During the 2022 Tour, which saw Pogačar lose to Jumbo Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard, the Colnago launched the TT1, a wild-looking time trial bike that sees a proprietary bottle form part of the frame’s aerodynamic profiling.
At a similar time, the brand unveiled the Prototipo; a prototype comprising four different carbon layups, from which Pogačar and his UAE teammates would provide feedback to help Colnago decide on the bike’s final form. The preferred version was subsequently launched as the 2023 Colnago V4Rs.
Despite its storied and longstanding history which began in 1952, it’s reported that Colnago has been through difficulties in recent years. In 2020, the company’s 88-year-old founder Ernesto Colnago was forced to sell off his majority share to Abu-Dhabi-based investment fund Chimera Investments LLC.
“I’m convinced that Colnago will grow, but they’ve only been back on track recently. It almost fell on its ass a few years back, and they then had to sell, because it was basically bankrupt, and then started again, but you don’t get from 0 to 100 in a year’s time in the bike industry.”
Ahead of the 2023 season, the UAE Team Emirates team dropped its groupset and wheel sponsor Campagnolo, reportedly paying to move to Shimano’s Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, and choosing its wheel sponsor based on its own independent wind tunnel testing. Pogačar is already known for his attention to detail, so you can be sure he and his team will leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of a third Tour de France title. The Slovenian has only nine race days under his belt in 2023 so far but has won four times already. Whether that’s evidence against Boonen’s claims or simply a confirmation of Pogačar’s exceptional talent is impossible to prove.
The Wielerclub Wattage podcast is broadcast in Flemish, and quotes were translated by Edith Coen.
