BMC’s NTT Pro Cycling team bikes for 2020

There have been a lot of changes to the 2020 WorldTour peloton, chief among them NTT Pro Cycling which is the new name for last year’s Dimension Data outfit.

New name aside (and Mark Cavendish leaving for Bahrain-McLaren) and a quite fetching blue and black team kit, the squad continues to be sponsored by Swiss bike brand BMC. It has this week unveiled the new-look bikes as the European racing gets underway.

It does look like it’s another team that will be racing predominantly on disc brakes, unless we see otherwise in the peloton. The company provides two bikes to the team, the lightweight Teammachine SLR01 and the slippery Timemachine Road aero road bike.

Introduced in 2018, the Timemachine Road is the Swiss company’s newest model. It comes six years after the launch of the company’s very first aero road bike, and is designed solely around disc brakes and features integrated storage and a water bottle design that minimises drag at wider yaw angles.

“Designed to deliver maximum efficiency for the most powerful riders during all-out sprints and accelerations, the new Timemachine Road features key innovations like an aerodynamically perfected frame, a class-leading integrated with a ICS Aero cockpit and the all-new Aero Module re-purposes hydration and storage elements for aerodynamic performance elements through a functionally integrated design,” explains BMC.

As mentioned, it’s designed around disc brakes, with 12mm thru-axles and flat mount calipers. The frame weighs a claimed 980g and the fork, with an uncut steerer tube, is 410g. The aero seatpost adds 190g. The fork is interesting. It’s an asymmetric design, nothing unusual about that, but it’s the aero fairing that attempts to reduce drag around the brake caliper that is eyebrow-raising.

The Teammachine traces is lineage right back to 2002 when the bike brand sponsored the Phonak Cycling Team. Remember them?  The current Teammachine was updated in 2017, so maybe it’s starting to show its age and ready for an updated? This latest model is offered with rim or disc brakes.

For the disc frame, it claims a weight of just 815g, versus 790g for the rim brake version. BMC utilised its Accelerated Composites Evolution (ACE) Technology computer software, creating thousands of prototypes which it says helped speed up the development process, as well as good old fashioned feedback from professional riders, to create the new Teammachine.

“Improving the existing Teammachine was no mean feat, it is one of the winningest bikes of all time, and people have asked us “Why even change a winning formula?” The answer is simple: we knew we could create a new, more competitive one!” explains  Stefan Christ, Head of R&D at BMC Switzerland. “Besides, if you don’t keep on innovating, you get left behind – this really is the case in a performance-driven environment.

All bikes will be equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupsets but the team continues to be sponsored by Spanish firm Rotor so it’s Rotor Power meter cranks with non-round chainrings.

Enve continues to provide wheels, the only team it supports, with the likes of the SES 5.6 Disc and SES 7.8 Disc the go-to wheelsets. Both wheelsets use a shallower and wider front rim profile for enhanced aerodynamics. Wrapped around the carbon rims are Vittoria Speed tubular tyres.

Saddles are provided by Selle Italia, which provides a wide range of options for each rider to find a saddle to suit, and Enve provides the handlebars to match the wheels.

We’d normally list the stem and seatpost sponsors about here, but each bike has BMC’s specific designs so aftermarket options don’t fit. The stem on each bike model neatly hides all the cables and brake hoses inside and out of the air, providing maximum aerodynamic performance and a very clean appearance.

View all the bikes in the 2020 WorldTour peloton here.