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Gallery: Alaphilippe’s worlds winning Tarmac SL7 with clinchers!

Gallery: Alaphilippe's Worlds winning, clincher-clad Tarmac SL7

Julian Alaphilippe soloed to a second consecutive UCI men’s Road World Championship on Sunday. He did so in a similar swashbuckling style to his victory in Imola, Italy, 12 months ago. Also very similar was Alaphilippe’s bike, the S-Works Tarmac SL7. While this is the second men’s title in a year for the SL7, the 2021 bike had one crucial difference – clinchers!

Alaphilippe opted for Specialized’s Turbo Cottons and latex inner tubes for his latest World Championship bid, and Specialized believes this is the first elite World Championship won on clinchers. This is the second major one-day victory for the Specialized clincher tyre family this year after Kasper Asgreen rolled to a Tour of Flanders victory in April.

More significantly, Alaphilippe’s victory could be another nail in the tubular tyre coffin. Specialized has already stopped investing in tubular tyre technology to fully focus on the benefits it sees in clinchers, as our very own James Huang and Dave Rome discussed with Specialized on a Nerd Alert podcast earlier this year. 

Otherwise, the bike is almost identical, with Roval Rapide CLX wheels and Dura-Ace Di2 9170 components. 

We grabbed these shots of the bike just three hours after Alaphilippe soloed across the line, so grab yourself a Duvel, sit back, and enjoy a close look at the 2021 elite men’s World Championship-winning bike.

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