Pro bike: Simone Velasco’s Wilier Filante SLR for the Giro d’Italia

As Italy's road race champion, Velasco gets to ride a bike adorned with the Italian flag at his home Grand Tour

06:32, Tuesday 7th May 2024

Tom Hallam-Gravells

Online Production Editor

Simone Velasco's Wilier Filante at the Giro d'Italia

Astana Qazaqstan Team
- Nationality Kazakhstan
- Founded 2006
- Team Principal Alexander Vinokourov
- UCI Code AST
- Bike Sponsor Wilier Triestina
Simone Velasco
- Team Astana Qazaqstan Team
- Nationality Italy
- Age 28
- UCI Wins 7
- Height 1.7m
Giro d'Italia
- Dates 4 May - 26 May
- Race Length 3,335 kms
- Race Category Elite Men
Wilier Triestina
Wilier Triestina is an Italian manufacturer of road bikes, mountain bikes, gravel bikes and e-bikes, based in Rossano Veneto in northern Italy.
Shimano
Shimano is a bike component manufacturer based in Osaka, Japan. The company is one of the industry’s most popular manufacturers and it makes up around three-quarters of the bicycle component market by value.
Vision
Vision is a cycling component company owned by Taiwanese cycling manufacturer Full Speed Ahead (FSA). Vision produces a range of high-end cycling and triathlon products with a strong focus on aerodynamic gains.
Vittoria
Vittoria is an Italian bicycle tyre manufacturer. The company produces over seven million tyres yearly for a wide range of cyclists, from road racers and commuters to BMX riders and mountain bikers.
Prologo
Founded in Italy in 2006, Prologo is a market-leading manufacturer of saddles and other bicycle accessories.

Stage 2 was a particularly special day for the tifosi at the Giro d’Italia as they paid homage to Marco Pantani on the slopes of the Santuario di Oropa. Serving as the day’s summit finish, it was famously the scene of one of Pantani’s greatest escapades as he recovered from misfortune to overtake nearly 50 riders and maraud to a spectacular victory.

The day’s importance wasn’t lost on the Italian riders, including Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost) who outlasted his breakaway companions to arrive at the foot of the climb first. After the finish, having been swallowed up by the GC favourites, Piccolo explained how much he had relished the day: “It means a lot to me. Of course we could honour him [Pantani].”

While Piccolo shouldered the Italian efforts at the front of the race, it must also have been special for Simone Velasco, who hoisted the Italian flag in a completely different way. The Astana Qazaqstan rider is currently the Italian road race champion, meaning he gets to ride a bike adorned with his national flag. It’s a special honour in any scenario, but takes on more meaning at a home Grand Tour.

Prior to stage 2’s foray up Santuario di Oropa, we got a close-up look at Velasco’s bike.

Read more: Hot tech from the Giro d’Italia

An aero bike for a summit finish

Considering the day’s finishing parcours, it’s perhaps a little surprising that Velasco’s bike of choice for the day was the Wilier Filante SLR, as opposed to the 0 SLR. The former is the team’s aero bike, while the latter is optimised for climbing.

Despite the finish, Velasco’s decision can be explained by the flatter terrain that preceded the final climb, making an aero bike a viable option. Plus, the Filante isn’t your bog-standard aero bike, but what Wilier describes as an “extremely lightweight aerodynamic bicycle”. It, in essence, hails from the superbike category of all-rounders, which are designed to excel on whatever tarmac terrain it encounters, whether it be supporting the team’s climbers or Mark Cavendish in sprints.

The Italian flag adorns Velasco's bike at the Giro d'Italia

Velasco’s bike specifically stood out from those of his teammates courtesy of its unique colourway, owing to the fact that he is currently Italy’s road race champion. It’s an honour that is bestowed upon the bikes of all national champions and can lead to varying designs, from the bold to the more subtle. The Italian’s design errs more towards the latter, although a closer inspection highlights how Wilier has mastered the finer details.

The rest of the bike sported a white colourway with a marble-like effect

The Italian flag is consigned to the front of the bike, where it zags across the fork, down, head and top tubes. It is flanked by a white colourway, except this is home to some ornate patterns which aren’t easily spotted from a distance. It’s similar to the marble-effect the team uses for its regular bikes and, in our humble opinion, the overall design looks great.

Climbing gearing but aero wheels

If you were to judge the stage’s parcours based on the bike’s set-up, you’d likely guess a much flatter day of racing. The only real giveaway to the summit finish was the gearing.

For his Shimano Dura-Ace groupset, Velasco chose a 54/40t chainset. That’s fairly standard, although many riders have started sizing up from this, but for a day with a long climb, it’s a logical choice.

A Shimano Dura-Ace groupset with a 54/40t chainset

It was paired, predictably, with an 11-34t cassette. Virtually every Shimano-sponsored rider is now taking advantage of the wider range of an 11-34t cassette, although they’re not the widest on show at the Giro, where we’ve spotted SRAM-sponsored riders using 11-36t gearing on what appears to be an unreleased new SRAM Red AXS groupset.

Most Shimano-sponsored riders are taking advantage of 11-34t cassettes, including Velasco

Beyond the gearing, the rest of the bike sported more of an aero look, including the Vision Metron 60 SL wheels. Home to a rim depth that matches their name, they’re on the mid to deeper end of the scale, although Vision also offers shallower rims more geared towards climbing.

The Vision 60 SL wheels

Vittoria’s Corsa Pro TLR joined the tyres, in a 28mm width. These were set up tubeless.

Wilier’s own-brand components completed much of the build, including the integrated bar and stem, plus the seatpost which hoisted Velasco’s Prologo saddle aloft.