Could Nielsen Powless be looking to win his first Tour de France, just seconds from the yellow jersey?

09/07/202209/07/2022 Drive Pilots

Rigoberto Uran finished 2nd with Drapak in 2017, however 12 months in 2022 will Cannondale claim cycling’s biggest prize?

_{(Image credit: Dan Cavallari)}

Since its arrival in expert biking with the mythical Saeco crew withinside the past due Nineteen Nineties, Cannondale has end up one of the winningest motormotorcycle brands.

Rigoberto Uran was second with Drapac in 2017, but will 2022 be the year Cannondale finally claims cycling’s biggest prize?

The flamboyant and debatable Mario Cipollini catapulted Cannondale into the limelight together along with his mind-blowing pace and similarly mind-blowing clothing at some stage in that time. ‘Il Re Leone’ became the primary to set up a dash train – a line of red-and-yellow bikes and jerseys that went so rapid that rival groups and sprinters absolutely could not preserve up.

_{Mario Cipollini Spinergy wheels_Graham Watson_2 (Image credit: Graham Watson)}

Cannondale chalked up 5 Giro d’Italia GC victories among 1997 and 2010 – however to this point has in no way received the Tour de France(opens. After an epic level 5 noticed EF Education-EasyPost’s Neilson Powless circulate to inside thirteen seconds of the yellow jersey(opens in new tab), and in level six to simply 4 seconds, may want to 2022 be the 12 months?

Powless became a past due addition to EF’s Tour roster. But after his fourth region usual on the Tour de Suisse (opens in new tab) and an outstanding victory at Clasica San Sebastian in 2021(opens in new tab), Powless is a tested allrounder.

_{Neilson Powless and Magnus Cort at the cobbles (Image credit: Getty Images)}

Let’s take a better study the bike that Cannondale might be banking on. The Cannondale SystemSix(opens in new tab) is the crew’s aero bike it really is presently wearing the maximum unconventional paintjob withinside the peloton… that may transfer to the enduring yellow of the Tour GC winner if the whole thing is going Powless’s manner for the subsequent weeks.

Cannondale’s Clive Gosling instructed us that lower back withinside the Nineteen Nineties Cannondale could have been the primary emblem to have a yellow bike ready ‘simply in case’ – however could not percentage any statistics on present day plans for paint.

And permit’s now no longer neglect about Magnus Cort. Is the polka-dot Cannondale being sprayed up as we speak?

^{EF Education Cannondale SystemSix seat tube (Image credit: Dan Cavallari)}

Dan Cavallari shot Rigoberto Uran(opens in new tab)’s SystemSix for Cycling Weekly. The Colombian rider has come closest to prevailing the Tour de France for Cannondale, completing 2nd to Chris Froome in 2017 with the Drapac crew.

The current EF-Education EasyPost crew has styled itself as a disrupter, because the retina-searing shiny crimson paintjob which screams approximately the collaboration with Rapha and Palace Skateboards, indicates.

“The entire body is complete with Easter eggs, and you notice everything until your eyes hurt and you don’t notice everything,” Cavallari suggested photographing Uran’s bike.

In the beyond we’ve visible geese however this 12 months the little inexperienced dragon is a not unusualplace motif on EF’s bikes and kits. As is the ‘female’ symbol; the factor right here is to polish a mild on women’s biking earlier of the Tour Femmes arising towards the quit of July – a women’s Tour de France for the primary time for the reason that 1980s.

_{EF Education Cannondale SystemSix chainset (Image credit: Dan Cavallari)}

The SystemSix is geared up with the the brand new Shimano Dura-Ace(opens in new tab) semi-wi-fi setup. The the front and rear derailleurs are wired, however the shifters are wi-fi.

A 54/forty chainring combination offers Uran all of the push he’ll want for flat stages. The crank is outfitted with a Power2Max strength meter, unsurprisingly painted crimson.

_{EF Education Cannondale SystemSix bars (Image credit: Dan Cavallari)}

Up the front is an incorporated Vision Metron 6D one-piece bar/stem. The hoses emerge in brief from under the bar to vanish right into a the the front of the SystemSix’s head tube.

_{EF Education Cannondale SystemSix fork (Image credit: Dan Cavallari)}

The Vision Metron forty five SL wheels are tubular in preference to tubeless, with unbranded tubs. Of path the crew additionally has tubeless wheels and tyres at their disposal, however it’s exciting to look that the seasoned riders can’t pretty permit cross in their trustworthy vintage tubulars. The EF crew has been one of the maximum innovative as a ways as tubeless is concerned, even having used foam inserts, so this unfashionable step became some thing of a surprise.

EF’s water bottles are absolutely compostable. They incorporate no microplastics and are made absolutely from plant-primarily based totally products. If a rider must lose a bottle and it rolls off into the woods, it’s going to biodegrade in only some weeks or months. They take a seat down in Elite Leggero Carbon bottle cages, which can be of path now no longer so biodegradable.