As I write this there’s a distinctly non-Belgian feeling, despite being on the cusp of the most important race of the year for the nation, the Tour of Flanders. On the eve of The Big One, on an unseasonably warm day, between picking up press accreditation, eating a very pleasant mint choc chip ice cream, and planning logistics for what is always a chaotic day, I managed to sneak a half hour at the Lotto team hotel.
Lotto has been sponsoring a cycling team for 40 years, and as such has a lot of heritage to draw upon. Being a Belgian lottery, it stands to reason that it would want to celebrate its anniversary at the most important race for the European nation.
While the team used to boast a Belgian bike sponsor in the form of Ridley, its current sponsor Orbea, hailing from the Basque Country, has stepped up to the plate and given each rider at the Tour of Flanders a special custom paint job, inspired by a Lotto jersey from days gone by.
While I didn’t get a chance to photograph them all – if there’s one thing you don’t do the day before Flanders is push your luck with a team mechanic – I did manage to snag five of them, so now we all get to play a game of match the bike to the jersey.
No spoilers, you’re on your own here.
First up we have this neon number for Alec Segaert (Image credit: Will Jones)
Hints of blue, the odd dash of peach. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Peach is a theme that then runs into the bike of Jenno Berckmoes. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Plus, again, some blue and periwinkle notes. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The deep blue on Sébastien Grignard’s bike really plays well with the metallic silver. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The geometric patterns are akin to what we often see on prototypes to hide the outlines. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Lennert van Eetvelt had a much more understated bike. (Image credit: Will Jones)
No patterns, just a turquoise and a marine blue, with plenty of glitter flake. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Oddly this bike had no power meter. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Hub OK? I sure hope it is! (Image credit: Will Jones)
Finally, back onto the patterns, with this baby pink option for Brent van Mooer, which we’ll go into in more (Moore?) detail. (Image credit: Will Jones)
A 3D printed saddle, slammed all the way forward for the rangy Belgian. (Image credit: Will Jones)
A strip of gold paint makes certain the saddle height is always bang on. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Oddly the rear dropouts of these Orbea Orca Aero bikes have a thru axle and a vertical dropout slot. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The rear brake caliper was a solit metal unit, 140mm in diameter. (Image credit: Will Jones)
While the front rotor was a 160mm floating rotor, also from Galfe, and aftermarket brake component brand. (Image credit: Will Jones)
No extra grip tape on the bottle cages, despite the cobbles. (Image credit: Will Jones)
A 30mm tyre front and rear was just about accommodated. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Here’s that 3D-printed saddle again – the bike is on the larger size, so every gram counts to keep it competitive. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The 30mm front tyre is really squeezed in under the downtube. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The Orbea wordmark is hard to make out against the baby pink. (Image credit: Will Jones)
A 30mm front tyre is beginning to look a little old school in today’s modern tech landscape, but some bikes even had a 28c! (Image credit: Will Jones)
Extra satellite shifters to help on the drops. (Image credit: Will Jones)
And an aftermarket carbon computer mount to shave a final few grams. (Image credit: Will Jones)
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