Perhaps more than any other bike, the Pinarello Dogma has come to best represent professional cycling. First introduced in 2002, it was propelled to the height of its fame after beginning its partnership with Team Sky, its list of victories nothing short of astonishing and the Italian brand becoming a new cycling icon.
Between 2010 and 2019, in various iterations, it was the dominant bicycle of Grand Tours. It took Bradley Wiggins to the historic title of first British Tour de France winner, its image further rising with the sport's increased popularity back in the UK. It won a further four Tour de France titles under Chris Froome, and then two more under Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal. And that’s just the Tour…
Twelve years on from its first Tour win, this Pinarello Dogma F is now piloted by Ineos Grenadiers’ GC leader and Tour de France hopeful Carlos Rodríguez. While Ineos’ 2024 Tour de France performance has been a far cry from its dominant days as Team Sky, the 24-year-old is the team's only real hope for getting close to the podium in the final stages of the Tour.
Unlike other manufacturers, Pinarello never offered separate lightweight and aero platforms, instead offering variations of the Dogma, such as the Dogma X-Light or the Dogma K. So, while competitors in recent years have spent time merging their platforms to try and offer the best of both worlds, Pinarello has continued to tweak the Dogma to improve both aerodynamics and weight.
The most recent of this tweaking happened in the spring of this year. The new Dogma has adopted the higher Modulus carbon fibre of the Dogma X-Light, increasing lateral stiffness and saving 108g of weight.
More radical changes came in the frame’s shape, including a slimmer head tube and a now enormous bottom bracket. The now famous curvy Onda fork remains, albeit with neat aero detailing at the dropouts. In these pictures it’s possible to see Rodríguez’s race timing chip. Ineos prefers to use the fork’s aero shaping to better hide it from the wind compared to other teams which wrap it on the side of the fork.
Carlos Rodríguez is using a Most integrated handlebar and stem which hides the brake cables internally, with them then being routed down the front of the head tube – another feature of this re-designed frame.
It’s a full Shimano affair for the Ineos Grenadiers, with the team using the Japanese manufacturers groupset and wheels. Here, Rodríguez is using a 56/44t Shimano Dura-Ace chainring. We would anticipate him running some smaller ahead of the high Alpine mountains.
He’s also running Shimano Dura-Ace C60 wheels front and rear. Again, these are deeper than what he’ll race on in the mountains, preferring shallower rims for a lighter weight and improved handling. These wheels are shod with Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT tyres, set up tubeless.
