New Specialized integrated handlebars seen on Lorena Wiebes's Tarmac

Lorena Wiebes, on her first rides on her new SD Worx team's Tarmac, was spotted using a new aerodynamic integrated handlebar that has raised speculation about the development of a new version of Specialized's most famous bike, especially as the current Tarmac SL7 is a 2020 release.

Lorena Wiebes tests a prototype of the integrated handlebars on her new Specialized Tarmac

The first pre-season training camps for cycling teams are usually the ideal place to fine-tune the equipment that the riders will be using during the coming campaign. It is also an ideal occasion for the supplying brands to allow the riders to test some prototypes of what will be their new products.

On the other hand, the increasing use of social media by cyclists makes it more and more difficult to keep secret the developments that brands are carrying out. If a few days ago it was Mathieu Van der Poel who was caught using a prototype Canyon bike, now a post on the Instagram of Lorena Wiebes, who recently joined Team SD Worx, has spread rumours about a possible new Tarmac.

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Specifically, the image posted, a photo of the rider, still wearing the jersey of her former team, Team DSM, climbing the well-known Col de Rates, one of the Alicante mountain passes where the professionals go to do their tests, showed an integrated handlebar on her bike that has nothing to do with those currently available in the Specialized or Zipp range, another of the team's sponsors.

That Specialized is developing a handlebar with a much more aerodynamic cut than the current one could mean nothing, or it could also be that the brand is already working on a new bike, which following the name used by Morgan Hill should be the Tarmac SL8. Although it should also be noted that at the end of November, a couple of weeks before travelling to Spain, Lorena Wiebes visited Specialized, so it's not surprising that it was to get involved in the new equipment.

 

 

 

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Una publicación compartida de Lorena Wiebes (@lorenawiebes)

In these rumours it plays an important role that it is a bike that should be at the end of its life cycle after being presented during the year 2020, although it has already been advanced in a pre-season training camp. In that case it was the Bora Hansgrohe team, but then we had to wait until July for its official presentation.