Check out Vincenzo Nibali's Tour de France-winning Specialized Tarmac from 2014

It’s all go at Astana Qazaqstan right now with loads of personnel changes in the past few weeks and confirmation from bike brand Wilier that its association with the team is coming to an end, XDS/X-Lab seemingly poised to take over. Astana last won the Tour de France back in 2014; let’s take a look at the Specialized Tarmac that Vincenzo Nibali rode to victory.

It’s the time of year when we usually hear about new recruits and departures as teams wrap up one season and prepare for the next, and this time around Astana Qazaqstan has announced the retirement of Mark Cavendish from the racing team and the arrival of fellow Manxman Peter Kennaugh as a Sports Director, along with Britain’s Alex Dowsett, the former world hour record holder, coming in as a performance engineer focusing on optimising rider positioning on the bike, testing technical equipment, and preparing for time trials.

Pics: Brakethrough Media

The Astana team has been home to many big-names over the years, including Alberto Contador and a certain Lance Armstrong – heard of him? – but it hasn’t won a Grand Tour since Vincenzo Nibali's victory in the Giro d’Italia in 2016. The year previously, Fabio Aru won the Vuelta a España for Astana, and in 2014 Nibali claimed four stage victories along with the overall Tour de France win. He took the leader’s yellow jersey after winning Stage Two, and held it every day except one for the remainder of the race. Nibali is one of only seven riders to have won all three Grand Tours in men's cycling.

So customary is it for an imminent winner of the Tour de France to receive a specially painted bicycle to parade around the Champs-Élysées in Paris while quaffing champagne, we’d be shocked if a manufacturer didn’t pull out something special.

Back in 2014, Specialized didn’t disappoint, delivering Vincenzo Nibali a customised Tarmac for the final stage of the race. It steered clear of painting everything yellow, however, and matched the black base colour with yellow decals and graphics. There was a small picture of a yellow jersey on the top of the top tube.

No one would call this bike subtle, but it was a little more restrained than many other Tour winners’ bikes over the years. For example, it was less garish than the all-yellow Pinarello Dogmas that Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome rode to their wins in 2012 and 2013, respectively. We’re sure Pinarello had a new Dogma F8 painted yellow in anticipation of Froome winning the 2014 race, but we had to wait until 2015 to see it. 

Corima delivered yellow stickered wheels to match the frame and Look did the same with pedals. Campagnolo supplied yellow hoods for the Super Record mechanical groupset, while FSA produced a yellow stem, handlebar and seatpost to add to the build. Yellow bar tape completed the setup. 

Prior to the final stage, Nibali had been racing aboard a custom-painted ‘shark’ bike which we got a good look at before the Grand Depart in Yorkshire. Here it is.

Nibali rode the new Tarmac that Specialized had unveiled earlier in the year. This was when the US brand had introduced size-specific carbon fibre layup to the Tarmac range for the first time. Although this bike was available with disc brakes, the UCI didn’t permit them in road racing until a trial period in 2015 and full authorisation in 2018, so it was rim brakes for Nibali.

Argon 18 became Astana’s bike supplier in 2017 and then Wilier took over from the 2020 race season with its 0 SLR road bike and Turbine time trial bike. The Filante SLR aero road bike became an option for Astana riders when it was introduced in late 2020.

> What a beauty! Check out Astana’s Wilier Zero SLR road bike

We’ve never seen the new Wilier Verticale in Astana colours, and that opportunity has now gone. Astana and Wilier have announced that the association will come to an end at the close of the 2024 season, and from now on the Italian brand will be partnering exclusively with Groupama – FDJ at the World Tour level.

As for Astana, it looks certain that it’ll be working with China’s XDS in 2025, investment having been announced earlier in the year. New bikes are incoming, along with a likely team name change. More details when they’re confirmed.

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