Pinarello has today issued a statement in response to the snapped handlebar issue experienced by Filippo Ganna at Wednesday's Dwars Door Vlaanderen, before claiming the victory.
In the closing stages of the race, with 38km to go and prior to blasting past Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) at the last possible moment for the win, the Ineos Grenadiers rider was forced to swap bikes after the ride-hand drop portion of his Pinarello Dogma F cockpit hung loose.
Held in place by the brake hose and bar tape, the drop portion of the bar was bent backwards out of shape. Moments before, the Italian was seen on the race's TV footage moving it with minimal force, after leaning the bike against the team car while he waited for its replacement.
However, in a statement to Cyclingnews from Pinarello, a spokesperson has explained, "after an initial analysis, the damage appears to have been caused by excessive tightening of the brake lever clamp, leading to failure of the handlebar around the lever clamp."
That should reassure owners of the Pinarello Dogma F, and indeed the Pinarellos F9, Grevil MX, and Dogma GR, which also utilise cockpits from Pinarello's in-house component brand, MOST.
If ever there was a reason to buy a torque wrench, this is it. In layperson's terms, it means the mechanics who built the bike didn't do it properly. The shifter & brake lever hood from his Shimano Dura-Ace groupset needs to be clamped around the carbon fibre handlebar using a metal band built into the design of the shifter. It then needs to be tightened to a specified torque using the in-built allen key.
Leave it too loose and the band won't hold it in place sufficiently, and the whole shifter hood can move around while riding. Too tight, and the carbon fibre of the handlebar can be damaged, and when combined with riding over cobbles that damage can quickly be exacerbated and lead to complete failure, as is the case here.
Cyclingnews has contacted Ineos Grenadiers for more details.
Notably, this was the second bike change in quick succession for the Italian, after he was forced to stop just 9km prior with a broken front wheel. The wheel's fault remains unknown at this stage.
Despite the setbacks, Ganna managed to ride back to the front of the race on both occasions – albeit with the help of a 'sticky bottle' on the first. He then caught race leader Wout Van Aert just metres before the finish line to take an extraordinary win; his first in a one-day Classic.
While punctures are a regular occurrence and broken wheels aren't uncommon, it's rare to see handlebars break in WorldTour racing, but this event isn't without precedent.
Perhaps the best-known incident in recent history was when Mathieu Van der Poel's handlebar snapped in the finale of Le Samyn in 2021. That led to a mass recall by Canyon and a redesign of its squared-off handlebar and proprietary clamp system.
Hugo Hofstetter, the French rider currently at NSN Cycling Team, suffered two broken handlebars in quick succession – one on either side for good measure – while riding the Bianchi bike of his previous team, Arkea-Samsic at GP Denain in 2023.
Both of those were caused by crashes, and he later abandoned the race.
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