At the beginning of the 1997’s season, thanks to the freshly retired cyclists Marc and Yvon Madiot’s passion, the Équipe cycliste Française des Jeux was born. The year 2018 was a turning point in the team’s history with the arrival of Groupama as the new title sponsor. The association of these two major actors of French sports gave birth to the Équipe cycliste Groupama-FDJ: increased resources and ambitions for the formation which also retains its strong family values and spirit. In 26 years, the formation won over 500 victories including 14 French national champion jerseys, 3 Monuments of cycling, and 38 Grand Tour stages.

Aerodynamic
Filante SLR was designed to maximise aerodynamic performance in real environmental conditions. The design was based on data recorded in the wind tunnel (where the wind is very clean for homogeneous empirical results) while also taking the real world into account. In this way, we not only evaluate typical wind tunnel data (yaw angles from -20° to + 20°), but also consider environmental turbulence that impacts the bike for many different reasons.

That’s why we redesigned the profiles, starting with the standard NACA airfoils/ KAMM tail that no longer have sharp edges on the back. The softened angles improve performance even when the airflow is disturbed.

The inside of the front fork has been widened by 7 mm, making it 13.6% wider than the Cento10PRO. In doing so, we moved the fork blades away from the wheel, reducing turbulence and improving aerodynamics.

Lightweight and Responsive
The new aerodynamically optimised profiles helped us eliminate extra weight in the frame’s construction. The shape has no sharp edges and, therefore requires less material and less resin in the corners. This improves the homogeneity of the inside, reducing the frame’s weight to a mere 870 grams. The assembled bike with top-of-the-range specifications weighs 6.8 kg.

Thanks to the different types of carbon we used in combination with the Liquid-Crystal Polymer, the unique fibre positioning and the construction technology, we have reached an absolute level of lightness and stiffness.

The lower overall weight compared to the exceptional stiffness increases STW by 12.5%. This improvement is clearly felt with the steering precision and the feeling of safety at high speeds.

Handlebar and integrated cables
In addition to being lightweight, (350 grams for the 101x42 size) the integrated carbon monocoque Filante Bar handlebar houses the brake and derailleur cables, directing them toward the inside of the frame. Its design is very simple, with sinuous and rounded lines for maximum grip ergonomics.

Balanced Design
Six sizes, one feeling. The sections of the tubes of various sizes were designed to maintain consistent rigidity, handling quality and comfort on every frame size.

Easy-fit spacer
The spacers between the frame headset and the handlebar are made of a high-stiffness composite material, with a special cavity for the cables. They are composed of two parts for quick assembly and disassembly without interfering with the cables running from the handlebar to the frame.

Speed release thru axle system
Another new feature is the Mavic Speed Release thru axle system that enbles the wheel to be quickly removed from the frame. In this way the axle does not need to be totally extracted from the wheel hub. This solution significantly reduces wheel release and insertion time. During races, this solution cuts wheel change times by 7 seconds on average compared to a traditional thru axle system.