Mark Cavendish has given us a first sneak peek at the new BMC Timemachine he will be riding for the 2019 season. His team, Dimension Data, made the switch to the Swiss bike brand on 1st January, with the Manxman posting a photo to his social media channels of the aero bike, which was released by the brand in the second half of 2018.
BMC was the main sponsor of the BMC Racing team which had become a permanent fixture in the WorldTour for almost a decade before the death of owner Andy Rihs last April. With this, the Swiss brand withdrew from its position as main sponsors with Polish shoe brand CCC filling the void.
While CCC Team assumed much of BMC Racing's staff and riders, it opted for an alternative bike provider, in the form of Giant, seeing BMC move across to the South African team.
Dimension Data riders will have their pick of the three BMC race bikes throughout the season including the lightweight Teammachine and endurance Roadmachine, although it is likely that Cavendish will opt for the aerodynamic Timemachine in his hunt for sprinting race wins.
The aero bike is fitted with integrated bottle cages, ICS split-spacer integrated cockpit and is only available with disc brakes, limiting the options for the Dimension Data roster.
Cavendish and the team will also continue on Rotor chainsets with Shimano Dura-Ace groupsets while Enve is retained as wheel provider.
The bike looks to be pretty neutral in terms of paint jobs with limited branding for both the team and bike manufacturer, and a simple grey and black colour scheme
The reveal of these new bikes follows the team ending its partnership with Cervelo bikes, who now come on board as bike providers for rivals Team Sunweb.
Sunweb are yet to reveal their team bikes for the 2019 season but it is sure to include the new S5 aero bike complete with split stem.