The ENVE Melee will debut in the professional peloton in 2024
ENVE increases its presence in professional cycling with TotalEnergies. The French team will race with the Melee for the next two seasons, as well as with wheels and components from the same firm. The sponsorship maintains the agreements that the American manufacturer already had with other teams.
The ENVE Melee makes its debut in professional cycling with TotalEnergies
The ProTeam TotalEnergies links its immediate future to ENVE. The American brand, which had a successful experience as a manufacturer of wheels and components, made the leap to bike manufacturing with the Custom Road. Just a year ago they launched the Melee and now this model has become a top-level cycling weapon after closing the deal with a professional peloton team.
In this way, TotalEnergies changes Specialized for ENVE; the Americans will supply the Melee and will also equip the team with the complete catalog of SES wheels and other brand components. The ironic part of the story is that ENVE does not have any time trial bike, so the team will continue racing in these tests with the Specialized Shiv TT with darkened paint.
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TotalEnergies thus becomes the first team to ride ENVE bikes. The conversations that started in October are now crystallized in an agreement that constitutes a great leap for the manufacturer, which will already have a notable presence in the global cycling showcase.
The cyclists will be able to choose between the SES Aero Road Bar handlebar -one piece- and SES AR -two pieces-. The Melee has a maximum wheel passage of 35 mm, although the design is intended to find the optimal performance in tires between 27 and 33 mm. According to the brand, the frame weight is 850 grams (size 56) and they define it as a bike that offers agility and response.
In addition, TotalEnergies will continue to mount the Shimano Dura-Ace groupset.
The Team Manager of the team, Jean-René Bernaudeu, stated that "our technicians and riders were impressed by the responsiveness of this brand. The tests carried out by our riders were more than positive and everyone, unanimously, recognized the high technology of these bikes". In addition, he also added that he wants to start the next season as soon as possible.
For his part, the General Manager of ENVE, Mike Stimola, stated that "we have earned a reputation as leaders in wheel and component technology, and now adding ENVE bikes to the professional peloton with TotalEnergies is an important step as a performance brand. We are always proud to see our products used at the highest level of the sport, in the most important races".
Despite increasing its presence within the sport, ENVE already has experience as a supplier of wheels and handlebars for the UAE Team Emirates, as well as supplying wheels and components to the Team Polti Kometa. Despite the recent agreement with TotalEnergies, these associations will remain intact in 2024.