ONE SP raced at the highest level

The ONE SP was an inevitability. Once Factor’s engineers designed and developed the ONE, the fastest, most aerodynamic road bike in the world, then it was a natural step to develop it further so it could become a super-efficient, responsive, and lightweight time trial and triathlon racing bike. Its forward-thinking, modern geometry and unapologetic aerodynamic profile, combined with the specially developed ONE SP Bar, transforms the purest road racing bike into the most dynamic and exciting time trial and triathlon performer. 

For the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice, Factor worked with a selection of its athletes to put the new platform into competition on a course that presented exactly the kind of complex, real-world challenge we believe a race bike should face. With approximately 1,200 metres of climbing and highly technical descents punctuating the 90-kilometre bike leg, outright aerodynamic efficiency was only part of the equation. Factor specifically recommended the ONE SP for Nice because its combination of aerodynamics, low weight, agility, and confident handling offered a compelling solution for the demands of the course. 

Factor athletes Alexandre Caille, Jens Emil, and Nick Thompson were given the opportunity to race the ONE SP for the first time in Nice, and all three enthusiastically agreed. Each of our athletes delivered standout rides, turning one of triathlon’s biggest stages into the latest example of a very Factor approach to development: take what we learn through engineering, simulation, and controlled testing, then put it into the hands of racers in difficult conditions, and find out how fast it can really go.

Seeing the potential

Though each athlete had the chance to pre-ride the ONE SP, some for several weeks, some for only a few days ahead of the big event in Nice, changing bikes mid-season can be a gamble, since finding and refining a triathlete’s position can take months or even years. “I am really fond of the Factor SLiCK; it’s the only time trial bike that I have ever been able to feel comfortable on,” Jens Emil explained. “But as soon as the ONE was released, I could see the potential for it in a triathlon application. And when they gave me the option to use it, I could really see the advantage of having not only the coolest but the fastest bike for the World Championships.”

Jens had the chance to ride the ONE SP for about a month before the race, which normally would be hardly enough time to find his perfect position. However, the fact he has gotten on so well with the SLiCK made the transition quite natural. “It was quite easy to get my position and to feel comfortable on it. I just had more and more fun on it every ride. At first, it was strange because riding it didn’t feel like a TT bike. In general, it was really agile like a road bike, even with the extensions for the TT position. Its low weight is also super impressive. It was very reactive, which is just so nice,” Jens explained.

“I like when the bike is really reactive, and you can definitely feel that the bike is agile. It’s just super cool to ride a bike like the ONE SP. Whereas a lot of TT bikes can feel a bit like a ferry that can hit high speeds but are not that agile. But the ONE SP just feels like an F1 racing car. We did some wind tunnel testing quite early on with my clothing partner, Fusion, which also just confirmed that Factor had made something that was unique and fast. I had no worries that I would be able to ride a good bike split in Nice.”

At the other end of the pre-ride spectrum, Alexandre Caille received his ONE SP only a handful of days before the race. Factor’s team knew it would be a tight call whether he would race it or his usual SLiCK, but Alex made the decision to go with the ONE SP, and proved its usefulness by setting the KOMs on the most technical sections of the descents. “I received the bike quite late; I think it was the Wednesday before the race, so I only had the chance to ride it twice before the Sunday start, yet I found the right riding position immediately,” Alex explained. “I really liked the handling; I could feel how agile the bike was right away. I actually took the KOMs on the most technical descents. The bike offers incredible precision, unlike anything I’ve experienced before. I’m not sure how they do it, but it’s pretty impressive!”

Tailor-made for Nice

Holding the Ironman World Championships on a course like the one in Nice insists that the athletes who want to perform well there be able not only to ride their bikes fast in a straight line, but also to negotiate long, steep climbs and even longer, fast technical descents. They have to be able to handle their bikes, and the bikes have to be able to handle a wide variety of difficulties on the course, from the narrow streets of Nice to the steep pitches up the col du Vence and the white-knuckle drop down back to the coast. “I think this bike was really tailor-made for this Nice course. It’s lighter than typical TT bikes. It’s a real race machine. Speed and agility. You can really feel like the engineers have really made something special,” Jens confirmed. “It’s a bike that could really climb well and descend. It was just so good to ride. It didn’t hold me back at any point. It carried a lot of speed on the flat sections as well. Uphill and downhill, it was just perfect. I was able to catch and pass a lot of riders during the bike section of the event.”

The effectiveness of the system became even clearer after the race when Alexandre Caille posted on his Strava account that he took three high-profile KOMs on aggressively contested descents during the race. “I’m not sure exactly what feature it is, but I feel great on the bike and have a really good connection with it; I think it’s very aerodynamic while also being comfortable,” Alex said. “I needed a fairly light bike for fast climbing, and I think this one is spot-on. It’s perfect for this type of course.”

Alexandre Caille's Strava

At least as impressive is the fact that Nick Thompson, who finished in 11th place overall, took second on the Ironman bike Strava segment for the race. “I was lucky to spend six weeks on the ONE SP before the 70.3 World Championships. It was really easy to find the right height with spacers and the best reach with the extensions. I was able to find a position identical to what I had set up on the SLiCK previously,” Nick explained. “Throughout the race, it performed exceptionally. It was able to hold speed really well while time trialling on the flat portions of the course while also having that nimble road bike feel on the climbs and descents. I had a moderate deficit to the leaders of the race after the swim. The ONE SP allowed me to work my way through the field across the various terrain.”

Perfectly paired with Black Inc

The ONE SP has been made possible by the development of the Factor ONE SP Bar. Purpose-developed around the ONE’s distinctive front-end aerodynamic design, the ONE SP Bar with aero extensions transforms the potential of the platform by allowing riders to achieve the forward, compact and highly adjustable position required for time trial and triathlon racing. Bolting directly to the fork head, it becomes an integral part of the ONE rather than an adaptation added after the fact. In doing so, it unlocks another expression of the platform: taking the aerodynamic thinking, low weight and handling characteristics of the ONE and applying them specifically to racing against the clock.

That sense of a complete system continues through the wheel choice. Paired with the Black Inc Disc rear and SIXTY TWO front wheel, the ONE SP comes together as a cohesive race package designed around outright speed without sacrificing the control required on demanding courses. The Disc provides the natural rear-wheel solution for an against-the-clock configuration, while the 62 mm-deep SIXTY TWO front combines a deep aerodynamic profile with the responsiveness and control needed when the course becomes technical. The wheels complete a setup in which the cockpit, frame, and wheel system work towards the same objective: finding the fastest possible solution for the demands of the course.

“Some TT bikes are a real pain in the ass to train and race on. But this bike is really comfortable, and it’s actually fun just to go for a training ride because the geometry is so much fun and you can really sit in a group as well is totally fine,” Jens agreed. “I used the Black Inc SIXTY TWO and the Disc wheel. Those wheels are just great. You can feel they have been built with just as much quality as the Factor ONE. And it makes a fast bike even faster to go with the disc wheel. I can feel as in control with the Black Inc disc wheel as I can with a regular wheel.”

The proof is in the racing

There is only so much you can learn from numbers. CFD tells us where to look, the wind tunnel tells us whether we are right, and controlled testing allows us to measure the differences. But eventually you have to put your design to the test. A real test. You have to have athletes with numbers on their backs compete on courses that refuse to behave like a laboratory. Heat, wind, climbing, technical descents, imperfect roads, fatigue, and pressure have a wonderful way of exposing weaknesses. They also have a habit of revealing when you have got something right.

That has always been the Factor way. Our athletes aren't simply there to race the finished product; they are part of the process that creates it. Nice gave us exactly the sort of proving ground we wanted for the ONE SP, and the performances there gave us something more valuable than another set of theoretical numbers: evidence from the real world, at race speed, when it mattered. For us, that remains the ultimate validation of performance. Design it, engineer it, measure it, and then give it to racers and ask them to prove it.

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