Ineos Grenadiers use a special fleet of super-lightweight frames repainted by a Formula 1 company at the Vuelta a España

As I walked through the pits at the start of the second stage of the Vuelta a España, the Ineos Grenadiers team bus caught my eye. Not because of the different paintwork per se, but because of the complete lack of paint on the rear of Carlos Rodriguez’ Pinarello Dogma F. The sterilizing Portuguese sun revealed stripes of raw carbon, not only on the frame, but also on the seat post. In an exclusive interview with Cycling newsThe team’s Performance Director, Scott Drawer, announced that Rodriguez’s bike is part of a small fleet of super-lightweight racing bikes developed in collaboration with Silverstone Paint Technology (SPT), a company focused primarily on Formula 1 and specializing in minimalist paintwork.

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Drawer revealed that while the team bikes are very light – consumer models can easily be built to meet the UCI weight limit – the team has access to a whole range of frames that have been stripped of their factory paint by SBT and then repainted in-house to add as little mass as possible. In this case, the raw carbon has been coated with a minimal clear coat and even the paint itself is visibly thinner.