And the winner is…

Swiss precision pips Italian flair

Before we continue, let’s take a moment to recognise again the incredible Pinarello Dogma. Its first Tour de France victory was less than auspicious – Óscar Pereiro was awarded the 2006 title after Floyd Landis was retrospectively stripped – but since then it has notched up 11 Grand Tours and counting. Save for 2014, that’s at least one every year since 2011. But yet that’s not quite enough to steal another win here.

For one thing, the other bikes here have laudable palmarès themselves. Cadel Evans propelled a Teammachine to glory on the Champs-élysées in 2011; Mark Cavendish notched up multiple wins and a green jersey with Columbia/htc between 2008 and 2012, while Simon Yates gave the Scott Addict a red jersey at the Vuelta in 2018. Then Colnago won what strangely was its first ‘official’ Grand Tour only last year under Tadej Pogačar, albeit C-series bikes dominated the Classics in the 1990s with Mapei.

However, the deciding factor here isn’t race wins, because we are riders and bike lovers, not GC contenders. Thus when the forensic scientists had finished dusting things with tiny brushes it was clear one bike just edged it: the BMC Teammachine. We’ll hand over to tech editor Sam Challis to accept the award.

‘The thing with the Teammachine is it set the tone for the modern race bike – but 10 years ago. It had dropped seatstays back with Cadel Evans, and he hasn’t even raced for six years. Each model also pushed the boundaries for stiffness-to-weight, and back in 2017 it was the first Worldtour bike to have disc brakes, racy geometry and still weigh 6.8kg. That’s impressive even today – just look at the weights of the other bikes here.

‘BMC was also quick to incorporate aero designs, and all that amounts to a bike that is incredible in every road-going regard. It’s tremendous to ride.

‘Then just look at it. This bike is so clean, right down to the smoothed-over axle nuts. Who wouldn’t want to own it? It is the epitome of all-round brilliance.’

The Teammachine set the tone for the modern race bike – but 10 years ago