Specialized Celebrates Milan-San Remo Win on New S-Works + McLaren Venge

3/19/11 - Matt Goss of HTC-Highroad took full advantage of his talent and his S-Works + McLaren Venge, a brand new bike that made its race debut after its global launch at the fabled McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, UK, on Thursday, just 48 hours before the race started.
 
"I could not have dreamed of a better race today," said Goss. "To be on the top step, ahead of Cancellara and Gilbert is amazing."

Goss became the first Australian to win Milano-San Remo. He responded to attacks in the closing kilometers and sprinted ahead of Fabian Cancellara and Philippe Gilbert.

 
Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad) on his way to winning Milan San-Remo on the new Venge.
Photo © Specialized

For Specialized and McLaren engineers, the day had special significance: the new S-Works + McLaren Venge that Goss rode to victory was the bike they'd collaborated together on over the past year.  The unique development partnership between Specialized and McLaren brought the advanced materials and carbon layup design that McLaren has employed in their F1-winning race cars into the world of race bikes.  To have race-proven their creation on it's first day of competition, particularly at such a challenging and iconic race, was cause for shared celebration.
 
The first carbon road race bike from Specialized with an aerodynamic design, the S-Works Venge (also introduced Thursday) was the brainchild of Chris D'Aluisio and the Specialized engineering team.  With years of experience in aerodynamic designs in the Ironman World Championship winning Transition and World Championship TT winning Shiv, the Specialized team clearly understands the value of aerodynamics. However, they were not willing to make the traditional sacrifices to stiffness and weight that aero road bikes have historically made.  
 
After over 4 years of development, testing, and over 20 trips to various wind tunnels, the S-Works Venge is the first bike to achieve the winning formula of weight, stiffness, and aerodynamics.  This design was then refined further through the McLaren partnership; in working with McLaren engineers, the S-Works+McLaren Venge maintained identical aerodynamics and stiffness, yet achieved an even lighter weight through its extremely advanced carbon layup design.