Pro Bike Check: Tom Pidcock’s Pinarello Dogma GR from Gravel Burn

To end the season, Tom Pidcock made the trek to South Africa to take on the inaugural edition of Gravel Burn, a 800km, seven-stage gravel race through the remote and unforgiving terrain of the Great Karoo. So did I in fact, in not only my first race where I’d be racing Pidcock himself, but one so unusual, I’d be sharing a campsite with him.

While he came into the race with no expectations or pressure to perform, the Briton managed to win stage 5’s mountain top finish on his Pinarello Dogma GR.

Owing to the rough terrain, Pidcock employed a slightly different setup to the one he used at the UCI Gravel World Championships, the most notable change of which was his tyre width and frame colourway.

While not as dynamic as his Gravel Worlds red/gold Dogma GR, the green/gold colour scheme of the bike he used for Gravel Burn was something of a Freudian slip, given this combination represents the national colours of South African sports, most famously used by the four-time world champion Springbok Rugby team.

While a Grevil and its 50mm tyre clearance would have been a better choice to deal with the unrelenting washboard and technical terrain and descents, Pidcock still elected to use the race-oriented Dogma GR. The Dogma GR borrows aerodynamic tube blueprinting from the road-going Dogma F but with the added benefit of greater tyre clearance and frame compliance.

For Gravel Burn, Pidcock upgraded his all-tan-coloured Vittoria Terreno T30 configuration tyres from 35mm to 45mm front/rear. Despite only having provision for 45/42 front/rear, his mechanics managed to shoehorn a 45mm tyre into the rear end, as Vittoria tyres often measure narrower than stated.

This particular tyre is manufactured from 92% recycled rubber and proved just fine for the hostile terrain, which caught out many riders in the pro field. A closer examination of the green Vittoria Multiway valves on his Vision SC 48 i25 wheels suggests that he was running Vittoria AirLiner inserts for added protection and enhanced comfort.

Unlike the majority of professional men’s and women’s fields, Pidcock elected Shimano XTR mountain bike pedals over road bike-specific hardware – a good move, given the rough terrain and likelihood of rock strikes and/or portages.

As a SRAM-sponsored team, his Dogma FR is built around a Red XPLR AXS Groupset featuring a 50T 1x chainring matched to an 11-46T cassette. A Wolf Tooth chain catcher ensures security over choppy washboard and rough descents.