Trek-Segafredo to use disc brake bikes in Paris-Roubaix and Grand Tours

Trek-Segafredo will use disc brake bikes much more in 2018, with Grand Tour riders such as Bauke Mollema and new signing Gianluca Brambilla set to use Trek’s Emonda Disc bikes at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.

Classics leaders John Degenkolb and Jasper Stuyven are due to use Trek’s Domane Disc bikes in Paris-Roubaix and other races after the US-based brand and its WorldTour team worked to improve the time needed for thru-axel wheel changes.

Cyclingnews has spotted several other teams training on disc brake bikes this winter and they are also expected to race more on the new technology that remains officially ‘on trial’ under UCI rules for 2018.

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It is expected the UCI will decide on the safety and technical standards, as well as any neutral support issues, for the 2019 season following the trials. Despite concerns from some riders, it seems that safety is no longer a major issue in the professional peloton after the edge of the disc rotors were flattened. Several riders won races in disc brake bikes in 2017, including Marcel Kittel at the Tour de France.

Trek used the 2017 season to further develop their range of disc brake bikes and waited for Shimano to roll out its Dura-Ace disc-brake groupset. At the Trek-Segafredo training camp in Sicily in December, Cyclingnews saw Mollema and other Grand Tour riders training on disc brakes.

Trek’s Matt Shriver, the technical director for Trek-Segafredo claimed that the Emonda Disc weighs 6.8kg, right on the UCI weight limit, meaning the benefits of disc brakes outweigh a loss in aerodynamics.

Disc brakes for Paris-Roubaix

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com