Hasta La Gadget!

Cervélo, which for the past decade has made some of the most coveted race bikes in cycling, is launching a new model for the Tour de France. And we have the exclusive, including the first test ride of any media outlet on the planet. Check back tomorrow for all the details and cool behind-the-scenes photos.

It’s only 15 years old, but Cervélo has become one of the top brands in cycling. It got there through innovative designs and engineering that brought a win at the Tour de France, an Ironman World Championship, Olympic medals and several of cycling’s top one-day races, including multiple wins at the brutal Paris-Roubaix (Google it).

One of the company’s primary innovations has been aero-road designs, which combine the geometry of normal road bikes with the streamlined, wind-cheating tube shapes of triathlon bikes. The Cervélo S3 is the current standard in aero-road bikes, and the company’s wind tunnel and lab tests suggest this new bike will be a massive improvement over the S3 in both aerodynamics and stiffness.

Current world champion Thor Hushovd will be among those riding the new bike at the Tour, which starts Saturday, but he agreed to do so only if he could race it at the Norwegian national championships last weekend. That’s why some spy photos of the aggressively aero design have leaked out, in case you’d like a preview. Either way, check back tomorrow for photos of the bike in the University of Washington wind tunnel and more photos from our exclusive test rides.

Photo: Mike Kane/Wired.com