I'm guessing that Kasper Asgreen is the only rider on the Soudal-Quick Step team who is fearless in walking past team general manager Patrick Lefevere. Asgreen has arguably single-handily saved the Belgian squad's Tour. Stage 18 saw Asgreen take a nail-biting win, and then today, in just nail-biting fashion, we saw him nearly repeat the feat, only losing the stage to Matej Mohorič by the narrowest of margins. A split-second throw of that bike earlier or later could have instantly changed the result.

But I'm not here to introduce a video about Asgreen's results at the Tour; no, I'm here to introduce a bit of Tour tech geekery.

There are a few people you hear rumours about from manufacturers, stories about how tech-savvy such and such ride is. How their input into products is regarded in the highest esteem, or at least listened to ahead of the rest of the rider's input. And one name that has cropped up time and time again is that of Kasper Asgreen. That's right, the Dane is a manufactures dream rider, or so I'm told by Ben Edwards, Specialized's global brand manager. Kasper knows his stuff, and as chance would have it, we bumped into him before the Tour rolled out. There he was, hiding behind one of the many team mechanics' trucks, Allan key in hand, tape measure ready, tinkering with his bike.

While at the Soudal-Quick Step teams hotel, it seemed rude to focus our time on Kasper and his tool tinkering; he's a lovely guy, but the bike tech was calling. So included in this video are a few bike delights, Julian Alaphilippe's Tarmac SL7 and current European road cycling champion Fabio Jakobsen.

But that's not all; luckily, I'd put my glasses on that day and spotted a few Project Black items, as Specialized call them. Items that aren't available or "exist" yet. This time around, Kasper had a new set of tires on his bike, Turbo Wet and a new saddle. We delve into both in the video.

And if you're wondering why it's taken a while to post this gold, firstly, I apologize, secondly Cav wasn't the only person who was at the Tour who was forced to rest due to injuries, but heck, it's perfect timing isn't it, a stage win and a close second. Enjoy

Cheers
Shoddy Dave