On Saturday, October 8, Filippo Ganna shattered the traditional hour record, and even the banned hour record on a bike, in Grenchen, Switzerland, 450 meters above sea level, with an astounding 56.792 km. This was more than 1km ahead of the 55.548km record set by Dan Bigam just a few weeks earlier.

Cycling News has gathered all the details of the Italian's equipment and kit and delved deep into aero optimization.

Bingham is a British aerodynamics expert with a background in discovering aero optimization across UCI regulations. He is a time triallist himself, but is also a performance engineer for Ganna's team, Ineos Grenadiers.

While the two of them worked hard to achieve Ganna's record, his own record-breaking efforts were like hors d'oeuvres for Ganna's main dish. In a sense, he himself was the mastermind behind the record-breaking.

The two have been working tirelessly on what has long been referred to as "Project 0.15" in their desire to bring Ganna's CdA to the unbelievably low number of 0.15.

CdA stands for Coefficient of Drag x Area. It is quantified in meters squared. The coefficient of drag is, in effect, a definition of how easily air passes over the surface of an object. It is influenced primarily by the shape of the item, but also by the surface material. The area is the frontal area, or size, of the item.

It has not been confirmed whether the two succeeded in that particular goal, but it goes without saying that Gana was one of the most aerodynamically optimized time triallists in the world.

Last week, Bigum told Cycling News that Ganna's setup was nearly identical to his own, save for a few minor changes.

"The only difference is the saddle, the pedals, and obviously all the contact points," he said. The actual frame, wheels, tires, cranks, chain, chainrings, and cogs are all the same."

"The only difference is the saddle, pedals, and obviously all the contact points. In fact, the main thing we've improved is the drivetrain; Muc-Off has developed a new coating for the rear cog and added about 20 to 25 meters. That's all. Other than that, it's basically the same bike."

That "same bike" was officially unveiled by Pinarello last Monday as the Bolide F HR 3D. 3D printed from a high-strength scandium-aluminum-magnesium alloy and tailor-made for the Italian.

It was developed in collaboration with 3D printing company Metron Advanced Equipment, conveniently based in Derby. The bike will be the first UCI-compliant 3D printed aerobike and is said to be worth €33,000.

The bike is also fitted with a custom-made, 3D-printed cockpit from Pinarello component subsidiary MOST, which has been confirmed to cost between €17,000 and €20,000, depending on the initial assessment of each potential customer.

Other wheels are special edition track wheels from Princeton Carbonworks, longtime supplier to Ineos Grenadier. These were specially designed from scratch to fit the new frame and are said to cost €8,000 for the pair. The rear wheels are asymmetrical and use larger bearings than usual.

One interesting discovery is that the wheels and tires are clinchers rather than tubulars: when Victor Campanaerts set the record in 2019, he used Vittoria Pista tubular tires, which were bottomless by today's standards It was an unfathomably narrow 19 mm.

By comparison, Ganna used Continental GP5000 TT tires (the recently released TDF version) at 25mm, with what appeared to be a latex inner tube inside.

The tire pressure was unconfirmed, but after Bigum's try he gave a hint, suggesting that it was higher than many would expect. This is likely due to the velodrome's smooth surface, which did not benefit much from the low-pressure bump-absorbing characteristics.

Ganna used a 170mm diameter Wattshop Kratus Aero crank (Wattshop is a Big Ham aero parts company) with a 64-tooth chainring. This was paired with a 14-tooth rear cog, also from Wattshop Kratus.

Connecting the two was an Izumi KAI chain, for a total cost of about 1,100 pounds (1,250 euros) for the drivetrain. The entire drivetrain is coated with a special low-friction coating by the British brand Muc-Off.

Gana needed a cadence of at least 96 RPM on average to break the record with this gear. In fact, a perfect cadence of 96 RPM would give Ganna a distance of 55.570 km. However, this is assuming he ran a perfect blackline throughout the hour; to mark 56.792 km, Ganna would have to average at least 98 RPM.

Bigham followed Ganna's lead of running with a negative split, suggesting that he run at a moderate, low cadence in the first half of the race and pick up the pace in the second half.

Running on the black line is considered the shortest route around the course. Running outside (to the right of) the black line increases the distance traveled per lap.

At the Tissot Velodrome, the adjacent red line, about 1 meter away, is 5.7 meters longer.

The distance is not the distance covered by Ganna's tires, but the number of laps multiplied by 250 meters, the official lap distance of the Tissot Velodrome.

Simply put, if Ganna went off the black line, he wasted a meter.

The bike was equipped with ceramic speed bottom bracket bearings. We spoke to Alex Doucette before the last Hour Record attempt, and he confirmed that he would run without seals on all bearings.

There is no confirmation as to whether Ganna's bike received the same treatment, but it probably did.

Ganna's saddle for the time trial is a Fizik Ares.

Bigum is an ardent advocate of Speedplay pedals, which offer smooth cleats and a slight aero gain due to their low stack height, but Ganna has a history of using Shimano Dura-Ace pedals, which he will likely use for the Recon ride.

As for Ganna himself, previous confirmation from Big Ham and images from the Recon Ride suggest that the Italian will be using the same model skinsuit, the BioRacer Katana, and BioRacer Aero overshoes. No pricing information is available, but judging from the fact that competitor Vorteq charges £7,000 (€8,000) for similar services, it is likely that Ganna's clothing was about that price, given his time in the wind tunnel.

He also used a Kask Mistral helmet, which appears to have used a visor with an aerotrip spoiler that first appeared in the opening time trial of the Tour de France.

Notably, unlike Doucet and (presumably) Bigam before him, Ganna used standard Northwave extreme road shoes rather than custom carbon fiber shoes. Northwave shoes have Boa dials on the outsteps, which are smoothed out a bit by the BioRacer overshoes.

Finally, Ganna also confirmed that he used a Core brand temperature sensor. This sensor is attached to the heart rate strap and monitors skin and trunk temperature throughout the effort.

Since UCI regulations prohibit Ganna from looking at the cycling computer during the race, this information will not be provided to Ganna in real time, but it will be recorded for post-race analysis and may be available for trackside coaches to view.

The main parts of Ganna's setup, including frame, cockpit, wheels, skin suit, and drivetrain, total approximately 70,000 euros. When additional parts such as bearings, drivetrain treatment, tires, shoes, and helmets are taken into account, it is no wonder that Ganna's kit list exceeds 75,000 euros. And that's before taking into account velodrome rental fees, travel expenses, thousands of hours spent on preliminary research, etc.