When it comes to anticipation, it doesn’t come much higher than the wait for Specialized’s new elite-level race bike, the Tarmac SL9. But now, finally, it appears we might have stolen a glimpse of it – or something like it.
Seen on the roof of a Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe car during a Spanish altitude training camp the bike, painted in Specialized’s usual stealthy pre-production ‘Project Black’ livery, was there for all the world to see in the team’s social media images from the training camp in the Sierra Nevada.
It comes in the same month that a new version of another benchmark Specialized bike – the Crux – was apparently spotted winning the Gralloch gravel event in Scotland.
The most obvious difference between the current SL8, which was introduced in 2023, and the bike in the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe image, is greater attention to frameset aerodynamics in the fork, seat tube and seatpost.
This tallies exactly with expectations that the SL9 would build on the ever-growing aerodynamic properties of the SL line – originally conceived as a lightweight climbing bike but, with the discontinuation of the Venge in 2020, has morphed into a balanced machine designed to be very fast in all situations.
The fork on the bike on the Red Bull car is obviously more built-out than on the SL8 edition, with a chunkier crown and deeper blades. Equally, the seat tube features more material that allows it to hug the rear wheel more closely than before, with the join between seat tube and seat stay built into an aero-looking junction. Above that, the seatpost has also become more aerodynamic, with the top two-thirds forming a deep-section blade.
The lower portion is partially obscured by what looks to be a new Hammerhead rear-facing radar unit.
Cycling Weekly contacted Specialized about the image, who would not be drawn. It said: “Specialized relies on feedback from professional athletes in both developing and testing advanced pre-production products in real-world applications. With this top-level feedback, some of these design elements and products eventually show up in future retail product offerings. We call this Project Black.”
However close (or not) the ‘leaked’ bike is to the finished product we will not have to wait long to find out. The new Tarmac SL9 is due to be released to the world very soon. An exact date has yet to be set but it is likely to be some time this side of the Tour de France.
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