Greg Van Avermaet`s 2018 BMC Teammachine SLR01 Disc - Gallery
(Cyclingnews.com)

Ahead of the 2018 season, Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet has been testing the BMC Teammachine SLR01 Disc at a BMC Racing Team training camp in Denia, Spain. The disc brake version of BMC´s flagship race bike was launched alongside the rim brake model ahead of the Tour de France last summer, but the team has yet to use it in a race. BMC Racing has also committed to using a full Shimano Dura-Ace R9100 series groupset for 2018, with Shimano´s new integrated power meter. In 2017, BMC Racing used SRM power meters and head units.ADVERTISEMENT BMC designed the Teammachine SLR01 with near identical geometry for both the rim brake and disc brake versions of the frame, meaning their riders can switch between the frames with minimal handling differences. While disc brakes will perform well in the often wet and muddy conditions of the spring Classics, Van Avermaet´s bread and butter, the complications that occur with getting wheel changes from neutral services and even team mechanics may restrict their use in the bigger one-day races. Tom Boonen famously took the first professional road win on disc brakes at the start of the 2017 season, but chose to race his final Paris-Roubaix on a rim brake version of the Specialized Roubaix, which is not yet available for consumers. You can read more at Cyclingnews.com