Bike Check: Jordan Sarrou's World Champion Custom Specialized Epic
Late last year, in the mist and mud of Leogang, Jordan Sarrou did the almost unthinkable and managed to be the first rider to wrestle the rainbow stripes off Nino Schurter since 2015. The 27-year-old (at the time) shattered Nino's air of World Champs invincibility and took the win by nearly a minute from Mathias Fluckiger. At the time Sarrou was racing for Absolute Absalon, with his team manager being the last person to beat Nino Schurter in the World Champs, but the off-season brought him a big move. For the 2021 Olympic year Sarrou will now be racing on Specialized and their Epic full suspension bike.
To welcome him onto the team, Specialized had a surprise waiting for the French rider at their training camp in South Africa - a custom painted World Champs edition Epic for him to race throughout the year. Alongside the traditional rainbow colour scheme, there's a host of lightweight XC racing parts and even some prototype Blackbox kit from SRAM too. Check out all the details below.
After rocketing around racecourses for almost twenty years, the Specialized Epic was updated for last year to tie in with the Olympics
Jordan lays eyes on his custom ride for the first time.
The rainbow fade on the rear half of the bike is exquisite.
Jordan also gets a custom top tube decal.
Specialized's BRAIN suspension controls the rear end. The system was updated for the 2021 Epic and is designed to lock out the suspension on smooth surfaces without the need for a bar-mounted lever.
As you'd expect for a Specialized Factory team, there's plenty of Specialized kit including Roval wheels and Renegade tires.
Sram provides the groupset with SRAM Level brakes...
... And an AXS XX1 drivetrain
There's also a Blackbox chainring from SRAM that looks to be an update on the Quarq power meter.
A training camp unfortunately also means some time in the pain cave.
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IMPO, they stick out like a sore thumb. Maybe if they were black???
No gloss/matte finish, no subtle patterns, no sparkle, no reference to the shape of the frame...
a plain fade in WC colors.Nothing to cheer, nothing to complain about.