Trek launched its current-generation Madone three years ago with the idea that it could be a true all-in-one road racing platform: light enough for the biggest mountain stages, aero enough to spend all day out front in the wind, and comfortable enough to ride all day. Trek itself has since muddied that philosophy with the ultralight Emonda and the remarkably comfortable Domane family, however, so with a new Madone presumably on the horizon, the most logical pathway at this point is to transform the storied nameplate into a more relevant dedicated aero road bike for 2016.
At the Criterium du Dauphiné — a primary Tour de France warm-up race — Trek racers have been spotted on a new aero bike we have to assume is the new Madone. Trek declined to comment on the bike.
[Editor's note: This article had been edited from the original speculative piece Huang wrote in April.]
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Why has the Madone gone full-blown aero, you ask? Because countless analyses have suggested that save for the most demanding climbs, aerodynamic drag is much more important than weight when it comes to going faster – and given that the Madone will likely continue to be Trek's premier professional race bike, going faster will be the primary goal above all else. Third-party wind tunnel tests have shown, too, that while the current Madone is better than a round-tubed bike in terms of drag, there's still a sizeable gap to dedicated aero machines.
The current Madone already uses nominally aero tube profiles but this new Madone looks to have the more aggressive shapes of this Speed Concept
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