Mark Cavendish has had only one goal since claiming Tour de France stage win number 34 all the way back in 2021: Adding one more win to take the accolade of most stage wins of any rider in Tour de France history.
With 34 wins to his name, Cavendish was tied with legend Eddy Merckx, however on stage five of this year’s Tour into Saint Vulbas he sprinted into the history books by taking win number 35.
The victory was something that the whole world of cycling was overjoyed to see, with plenty of riders taking to social media to celebrate the record-breaking stage win.
Ahead of the race’s Grand Depart from Florence Cavendish revealed the custom-painted Wilier Filante SLR that he would be rolling around France on. The black frame gives way to vibrant bursts of colour towards the front of the frame, fork and bars.
The colour palette used signifies the colours that have defined Cavendish’s career with the yellow and green both symbolising the jerseys that he has worn at the Tour de France. In 2016 Cavendish enjoyed a stage one victory that put him in the yellow jersey for a single day, whilst he has enjoyed multiple days in green, ultimately claiming the points classification overall in 2011 and 2021.
The black, blue, and red make up the remaining colours of the UCI World Championship rainbow bands that Cavendish won in Copenhagen back in 2011.
The Wilier Filante SLR is one of two bikes available to Cavendish’s Astana Qazaqstan team taking up responsibilities as the team’s dedicated aero bike. Although the Filante is undeniably an aero race machine it straddles the line between out and out aero bike and a more versatile all-rounder.
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Wilier even states that the Filante SLR can be built up to hit the UCI minimum weight limit of 6.8kg. With the custom paint scheme and the build Cavendish used for the stage, his bike came in closer to 7.6kg
The red, blue, yellow, green, and black colours represent a mix of the Tour de France jerseys Cavendish has worn and the colours of the UCI World Championship rainbow bands. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Wilier makes an integrated bar for the Filante SLR, however going by the shape of the bars and the top cap it looks like Cavendish is using Vision’s latest Metron 5D Evo. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Cavendish was running 28mm Vitoria Corsa Pro TLR tyres mounted to Vision’s Metron 60 SL wheels. These wheels feature a 33mm external rim width which aims to increase the aerodynamics of the system when used with wider tyres. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
On the fork leg below the fading explosion of colour is Mark Cavendish’s personal logo highlighting exactly who this bike belongs to. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Cavendish had a 55-42 Dura-Ace chainset with an integrated dual-sided power meter fitted to the bike. Paired with the monstrous chainrings is an 11-34 tooth cassette. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
To the unassuming eye, this saddle looks to be a Prologo as the logo would suggest however towards the nose of the saddle you can see the faint signs of a different logo being covered over. The saddle is actually a Fizik Antares – With saddles being such a personal item top riders are often permitted to go against sponsor brands to find the right one for them. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Mounting to the underside of the Vision Metron 5D EVO bars is a tidy bike computer mount. The team uses Garmin head units with the position of the mount suggesting that Cavendish uses the larger 1040 model. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The glossy finish of the custom-painted frame is immaculate with the fork, frame and bars all seamlessly blending into one another. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Garmin subsidiary Tacx supplies Cavendish with his bottle cages. The Deva Carbon are the go-to choice in a glossy black finish that is in keeping with the rear half of his bike. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
It is not just the frame, fork, and bars that get the custom treatment. The Vision Metron 60 SL wheels also feature blue and yellow custom decals. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
It looks like there have been no valve extenders used here with the valve only just poking through the rim. It might make it a little more fiddly to inflate the tyre but it does keep the rotational mass as low as possible. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Cavendish certainly has one of the most unique custom paint schemes we have seen and it is only fitting for the outright stage win record holder. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
