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Spotted: Roman Kreuziger on Prototype Project Black Specialized Tarmac at LBL?

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Roman Kreuziger tinkoff saxo specialized tarmac 2015
Photos by Jakob Kristian Sørensen

Now with race season in full swing, it’s a good time for pro road teams to start testing prototypes for the coming year. Most of the time they are well hidden from the public eye but every once in a while you spot something – like what appears to be a new version of the Specialized Tarmac under Roman Kreuziger during Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

The photo above which was taken by Jakob Kristian Sørensen, appears on the Tinkoff Saxo team website and shows what is clearly a bike frame with an integrated seat post clamp. Due to the lack of an aero seat post and Zertz on the seat stays, we can safely conclude this isn’t a new Venge or Roubaix, which leaves the Tarmac as the logical conclusion. Whether this is an all new version of the Tarmac (SL5?) or just updates on the existing design remains to be seen, but it definitely appears to be what Specialized refers to as “Project Black.”

Check out Specialized’ statement on the design, plus compare it to the other Tarmacs on the road for LBL after the break…

tinkoff-saxobank-specialized-team-bikes-2015-tarmac-chris-anker1
Photos by Jakob Kristian Sørensen

Above, Chris Anker Sørensen does his thing at the front of the pack on a current model Tarmac.

liege_morgen_tinkoff-12-of-12-642x428
Photos by Jakob Kristian Sørensen

As shown in the photo above, the blue and yellow Tarmacs have the current seat post clamp, indicating that Roman Kreuziger may have been the only one on a Project Black bike at the race.

When asked for comment, Specialized replied,

“Specialized relies on feedback from professional athletes in developing and testing advanced prototypes in real-world applications. Thanks to this top-level feedback some of these prototypes, or elements of their designs, eventually show up in future product offerings. We call these bikes Project Black.”

According to that statement, don’t expect to see a new Tarmac any time soon, but like most manufacturers you can bet they are working on one.

Thanks to Brian McDonnel for the tip!

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Velo Zephyr
9 years ago
James Price
James Price
9 years ago

Well, nice try with the statement, Spesh, but UCI doesnt really allow one-off prototypes, right? has to be at least a limited production run if not the actual SL5 beast. And its a little late in the year for this not to be pretty much what we’ll get in the showrooms as SL5.
It looks nice, pretty sleek and minimalist, would like to see the rest of it.

SomeFawkingguy
SomeFawkingguy
9 years ago

@Velo Zephyr what are you waiting for? Sue the living crap out of specialized !

Mindless
Mindless
9 years ago

Where are the disk brakes?

tyler24
tyler24
9 years ago

jan bakelants appears to be riding a similar set up in this ‘how the race was won video’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU4A2PSLjFA#t=95

can be seen in the shot of jan after a crash at 31 seconds.

dkrenik
dkrenik
9 years ago

@Velo Zephyr, that’s not even close to being the same. It’s simply another take on what some frame builders have been doing for years (Casati is an example).

James
James
9 years ago

I know it’s a competing website, but check out the link for more details photos.

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/new-specialized-s-works-tarmac-sl5-spotted-in-belgium-40871/

nunyab
nunyab
9 years ago

@dkrenik, that may be the case, but I bet it won’t stop Specialized from trying to sue you.

jacob
jacob
9 years ago

A little bit lighter, a little bit stiffer and a little bit more comfortable. The new SL5.

Colin
Colin
9 years ago

Are more than half a dozen dealers going to be able to get them?

UCI approver
UCI approver
9 years ago

Why not just check the UCI approved frame list that shows you all the new models before they are launched

http://www.uci.ch/Modules/BUILTIN/getObject.asp?MenuId=MTYwNzQ&ObjTypeCode=FILE&type=FILE&id=NjczMDE&LangId=1

Specialized Tarmac 15.

Jeff
Jeff
9 years ago

Hey bike Rumor… Can you please quit it with the Screaming audio ads? It’s really effin’ annoying, and makes me think twice about visiting a site I like to frequent.

Kristi Benedict
Admin
9 years ago
Reply to  Jeff

Jeff, we don’t like those ads either. We try to keep those off the site but they’re served up by a third party and we don’t always have control over them. Do they have a google adchoice logo in the corner? Send us an email if they keep up, with a description of the ad and we’ll try to take them off: kristi at bikerumor dot com.

wako29
wako29
9 years ago

So….I see an updated seatpost binder bolt. Is that it?

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