A subtle tactile click of my right finger sends a wireless signal to my rear derailleur as I shift down one cog, my legs ramping up the cadence as my speed increases. Despite the jetlag and poor sleep, I feel as if I have a tailwind. My excitement, fueled by the imagery of chasing down a fellow racer for the win, cuts through the mental fog and gives me another 20 watts. I glance down at my wrist on which the new Tudor Pelagos FXD Chrono “Cycling Edition” is strapped to, checking my time as I ascend the famous Category 2 climb to the Superga. In a few short hours, professional riders from all over the world will be ascending this very same climb in the first stage of the famous Giro d’ Italia. The amount of time passed since I began the ascent accurately revealed my pro-rider fantasy as a delusion, as the true pro’s will be completing this climb significantly faster than my pace.
To experience that feeling of a professional cyclist is not by happenstance. It is by intended design and exactly what Tudor strived to deliver in every detail. On this 30 km portion of the route, I am sporting the same kit, riding the same bike, and wearing the official watch of a Tudor Pro Cyclist which is why Tudor has flown me out to Turin, Italy. For the next 48 hours I would be fully immersed into what the life of a professional road cyclist would be when competing in a multi-stage national race. Everything about the next two days would expose me to the extreme precision that a team of this size and caliber executes on, the same precision Tudor puts into the design and execution of their watches. So now, lace up your cycling shoes, click into your pedals, and join me on this ride.
As the plane descended from the low gray clouds, the city of Torino with its orange-red terra cotta roofs emerged into view. Torino, situated in the northwestern corner of Italy on a flat plain nestled near the imposing snow-capped Alps which at times look remarkably close. A city of industry and boasting the largest automobile production site in Italy, Torino is often overlooked by tourists for more well-known areas of Italy. After my time here, I can say the city is resplendent with all of the history and unique qualities that would make it a welcome destination on any Italian adventure. After over eighteen hours of travel, a wonderful meal was taken in Famiglia with the others who were here for the journey. Over dinner we eased into the experience by getting to know one another, an important aspect since we would soon be riding in front of, next to, and behind each other. The team was beginning to form. After dessert was eaten and goodnights exchanged, I drifted off into a restful sleep.
The next morning, I made my way down to the hotel lobby for my 8:30AM bike fitting appointment. I was promptly whisked away into a room where two Tudor Pro Cycling team members were busy preparing the two dozen bikes for tomorrow’s ride. A simple adjustment and verification of seat height (provided ahead of travel) and an installation of pedals is done quickly and efficiently. I was now ready to do battle on the racecourse. Outside the large lobby windows sits the Tudor Pro Cycling Team’s temporary headquarters along with three other competing teams. Buses. Cars. Men in lycra. As part of this immersion, we are staying with the athletes, cooks, coaches, mechanics, and principles alike, who bustle around us, their focus on what needs to be done ahead of tomorrow’s stage.
After some free-time spent sightseeing with my new acquaintances, everyone grabbed a quick lunch in the lobby and then off to the hotel parking lot to meet the men and women behind the scenes of the Tudor Pro Cycling Team.
The familiar expression “It takes a village to raise a child” can be applied here. Eight professional cyclists hand-picked for the Giro are being supported by three sports directors, four mechanics, seven soigneurs, two osteopaths, and two chefs. To round out this massive team there is a Head of Sports, a Nutritionist, a Press Officer, a Coach, and finally a Bus Driver. The sheer size led one director to quip that the team “is a logistics company with a bike activity”.
The precision and calculation of each decision and procedure is exacting and intense to the smallest detail. Each of the eight riders is handpicked for the Giro from a pool of 28 based on their individual strengths and weaknesses, or more concisely those who stand the best chance of winning given the demands of the course. Each cyclist has their hydration measured and their food weighed with optimal carbohydrate intake assigned per each day’s course intensity and duration. Much like the precision of a Swiss watch, everything is done with one singular goal in mind – to wear the coveted pink Jersey at the Giro.
In order to wear that Pink Jersey, one must face one of the most difficult multi-stage races on the season’s schedule. Now in its 107th year, the Giro is one of three grand tours for the season (with the Tour De France being perhaps the most well-known). After many months of planning and training, twenty-one stages await the team and give the opportunity to utilize each rider’s advantages to the specific stage. There will be 2 individual time trials (a rider races himself against the clock for the best time), six hilly stages, seven mountain stages, and six sprint stages. A total of 3,321 kilometers of riding and 42,900 meters of climbing will be endured by the riders who make it to the end. We were guided by the Team’s principal (and outright legend in his own cycling career) Fabian Cancellara, who took us through the team bus, the chef’s truck, and the mechanic’s truck while providing some staggering metrics. Over the course of the season the entire team will have consumed over 95 thousand liters of fuel, booked and stayed in ten thousand hotel rooms, cooked and served thousands of meals, and drank from thirty thousand water bottles (not to mention four bikes per rider and countless spare wheels and bike parts). An entire village indeed…
After a quick run to clear my head and attempt at processing what I have just seen, we all congregated in the lobby, to be whisked off to a secret location where an evening of surprise awaited us. Walking up to the Palace of Venaria, its significance to the people of Torino can be felt. Designed and built from 1675 and occupied by Napoleon during his 1797 siege of the city, the Palace has seen its ups and downs before emerging resurrected in the latter half of the twentieth century. A perfect comparative to the highs and lows felt by a competitor in a multi-stage race. After touring the palace we were the first to be surprised by the now revealed fourth vehicle in the Tudor Pro Cycling Team’s line-up, the hospitality truck. In less than 24 hours, we would watch the end of the first stage of the Giro from this very platform, only several hundred meters from the finish line.
It is here that we walked up to an individual watch box where we encountered the newest edition to the Pelagos lineup, the Pelagos FXD Chrono “Cycling Edition”. The watch exemplifies the “Born to Dare” mantra of the brand, with Tudor making some significant and strategic decisions with this watch.
We’ll start with the case, which measures 43mm across and 13.2mm thick with a 22mm lug width. A professional bike racer conditions their body to be everything they need, and nothing they don’t, striving for the best power to weight ratio they can achieve. Tudor follows this same principle with the new Pelagos FXD Chrono “Cycling Edition” and the carbon-composite case carries over from the Red Bull Pelagos FXD Chrono. I find this a most appropriate tie-in to the competitive cycling theme, where every racer regardless of bike manufacturer rides a carbon fiber bike – the lightest material choice for bicycle frames. The case itself has a lot of depth, especially in direct sunlight where the various random carbon fiber strands really stand out. The appearance is that of an unpainted carbon fiber bicycle frame with a similar feel and texture. Great care was made to reproduce and replicate the iconic chamfers visible in all Tudor Models and not an easy feat when molding and pressing carbon. Pelagos FXD Chrono fans will be quick to notice that the molded carbon case of the Cycling Edition Pelagos is 1.2mm thinner than the Red Bull Pelagos FXD Chrono. This difference is very noticeable on the wrist. Even with a robust single pass nylon strap, the case hugs the wrist well belying its rather large proportions. The watch slid comfortably under the cuff and worked well with a variety of attire. The slimness comes at a sacrifice to water resistance, however, as the Cycling Edition boasts only 100 meters of water resistance, compared to 200 meters for the Red Bull Pelagos. Cycling, however, is not a watersport and I feel that loss of water resistance is negligible despite what the “Pelagos” name might insinuate.
Moving on to the matching black case-back, Tudor has spec’d the case back and case retaining ring in grades two and five titanium, respectively, reducing weight and minimizing the chances of the metal parts fusing. Like all watches in the FXD family, the case uses a fixed lug reemphasizing the purposeful nature of this Tudor collection.
The use of PVD coatings extends to the pushers and the crown which threads and sets the time and date easily. The pushers require a firm effort, but the user is rewarded with a satisfying feel ensuring that they have engaged the chronometer function. Inside the in-house COSC certified Tudor Caliber 5813 beats at 28,000 bph, has a 70 hour power reserve, and is backed by Tudor’s five year transferable guarantee.
The dial is a straightforward two register affair, with a seconds on the left and a 45 minute register on the right. The applied hour markers are square and white as on the standard version which really pop with the spaciousness of the matte black dial. The hands will again be a familiar story here, with a snowflake hour hand and stick minute hand like the Red Bull Pelagos. Although the same shape, the center seconds hand changes color from red to white, further enhancing visibility. The date wheel also changes color, going from white with black numerals to black with white numerals. Six o’clock dates can be a bit polarizing, but I like that Tudor decided to match the date wheel color to the dial color. On the molded carbon composite bezel, the cycling edition trades a sixty-minute scale fixed bezel for a fixed aluminum tachymeter bezel inlay with nicely contrasting white numerals. The inner chapter ring features a three-scale conversion in contrasting red rings and white numerals. Furthermore, the scale is specifically designed with the cyclist in mind, as it is adjusted down to accommodate for the lower speeds a cyclist achieves compared to something like a race car. All in all, the look of the watch ties together nicely and does a decent job honoring the black/red/white livery of the Tudor Pro Cycling Team.
After the ride concluded, the race watched, and dinner was eaten, we all took some time to settle and reminisce on the experience we just had. Tudor’s dedication to creating an immersive cycling experience that centered around a watch built for the cycling enthusiast was truly unique. Getting to wear the watch and use it in the environment that a pro cyclist would be living helps to appreciate the creative thinking that went into the design of the watch.
A cycling themed watch, albeit fun, is a risky proposition that not everyone will gravitate towards. However, with that point aside, you can see that Tudor creatively took the best existing elements of the Red Bull Pelagos FXD Chrono and applied some new and interesting features to make something truly unique and without compromise (or raising the cost over the Red Bull Pelagos FXD Chrono for that matter).
So, whether you’re a cycling aficionado, a pro road cycling race fan, or just someone who loves a good looking, tech-packed watch with a reasonable price-tag, the Tudor Pelagos FXD Chrono Cycling Edition is worth a look. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Tudor
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