British Cycling & Cervélo Create Bike for Rio Campaign

After Seven Golds in London, British Cycling and Cervelo want more in Rio

June 3, 2016 – British track cycling has been the dominant force on the world track stage, culminating in massive Olympic medal hauls. With seven gold medals at the Beijing games and another seven at the London games, the bar is set absurdly high for Rio.

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For many years it was Chris Boardman heading up the team’s technical efforts, under the tongue in cheek name “The Secret Squirrel Club”, that saw the squad riding bespoke, one-off bikes. Chris Boardman was the original beneficiary of GB’s technical superiority in 1992 at the Barcelona Games when he rode the Lotus SuperBike to gold in the individual pursuit.

Now British Cycling and Cervelo have partnered and unveiled the new T5GB track bike for Rio. A collaboration between Toronto based Cervelo and British Cycling engineers, the T5GB is made in the UK. From F1 wind tunnels to Cervelo’s California based development lab, no expense was spared developing the bike. British Cycling’s dominance has been fueled by enormous sums of money derived from the British Lottery, and this bike must have taken quite a bit of that cash.

“The challenge of developing the T5GB was significant,” said Cervélo engineering director Sean McDermott. “British Cycling’s track team is at the top of its sport, and its innovative approach has certainly contributed to that success.”

The early goal of the five-year partnership between British Cycling and Cervelo, which began in May of 2015, was to minutely understand the needs and performance objectives of the British riders, McDermott continued. “Next, we translated that knowledge into targets for the T5GB. The uniquely short time frame and ambitious targets made this a challenging project, but now that the new bike is ready, it’s clear that it was well worth it. We can’t wait to see the T5GB in action in Rio.”

Tony Purnell, head of technical development for the Great Britain Cycling Team, is similarly enthusiastic about the results. “The intelligence and expertise brought together by the partnership between British Cycling and Cervélo is unparalleled and, in record time, has delivered a bike which we are very excited about as we get closer to Rio.”

“Over recent years, our program has produced some of the very best track cyclists in the world, as is evidenced by their tremendous success in recent Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is our constant aim to ensure that the best athletes in the world are supported by the best equipment in the world. It’s about the detail – achieving the very best of everything.”

“This means that, even after the fantastic success we enjoyed at London 2012, we have been determined to work alongside Cervélo to build and improve on the equipment that has served us so well in the recent past. Without question, this bike represents that quest for continuous improvement.”

For more information on this partnership go to: BritishCycling