Sam Bennett of Detunink-Quickstep, Jay McCarthy of Beulah-Hansgrohe, and some of their teammates will be racing in the Schwalbe Classic criterium this Sunday ahead of the Tour Down Under, using aluminum Specialized Aretz Sprint Discs will be used.

Following a similar move in 2019, when Peter Sagan and his Bora Hansgrohe teammates competed in the Down Under Classic criterium on custom-painted Specialized Allez Sprint Disc framesets, Specialized will once again supply aluminum road bikes to some of the riders.

Other riders riding Allez Sprints include Iljo Keisse and Shane Archibald of Dečuninck-Quickstep and Eric Bashka and Ide Schelling of Bora-Hansgrohe. Bora-Hansgrohe rider Ide Schelling posted his new bike on Instagram Stories with the joke that "new bike day is not that special on this team."

For 2019, Specialized has announced a Down Under collection of shoes, helmets, and saddles. It remains to be seen if that will happen again this year, but Cycling News understands that the bikes will be part of a broader collection.

The bikes will be fitted with the team's customary Shimano Dura-Ace R9170 disc brake groupset and Roval CLX wheels with Ceramic Speed.

Specialized has a history of showcasing the latest and boldest technology in the Tour Down Under, with Sagan sporting gold Roval wheels in 2017, for example.

The Schwalbe Classic Criterium is a warm-up to the Tour Down Under, the World Tour opener on Tuesday, January 21. It will be contested on a 1.7 km circuit in the heart of Adelaide for one hour plus one lap, for a total distance of 51 km.