Turboem1

I always see people ask "What saddles do the pro's use?" This usually ends up in a ball of flames with responses such as "your not a pro" , "ride what you like not what the pros have" , "they get paid to ride that saddle" , and rebuttals such as " they are in the saddle for 5+ hours a day, they ride what's comfortable."

Whatever your view is I don't care but I decided to put together a list of what the pros are riding. There is definately a pattern. Here is what I came up with so far. Lets try and keep it clean and if you know of anymore let me know and I will add it. Thanks

Rider...........................Saddle

Robbie McEwen...........................Selle San Marco Racing Replica

Tom Boonen...............................Selle San Marco Racing Replica

Peter Van Petegem......................Selle San Marco Racing Replica

Erik Zabel...................................Selle San Marco (not sure of the model)

Lance Armstrong.........................Selle San Marco Concor Light

Yaroslav Popovych.......................Selle San Marco Concor (with a bontrager cover)

Michael Rasmussen.......................Selle San Marco Era Composite (No longer available to the public)

Stefano Garzelli............................Fizik Aliante Carbon

Patxi Vila.....................................Fizik Aliante Carbon

Iban Mayo....................................Fizik Arione

Magnus Backstedt.........................Fizik Arione

Alessandro Ballan..........................Fizik Arione

David Millar (Liquigas)....................Fizik Arione

David Millar (Saunier Duval).............Selle Italia Flite Gel

David Zabriskie.............................Selle Italia Flite Gel Flow

Antonio Cruz................................Selle Italia Flite Trans Am Gel Flow

Fabian Cancellara.........................Selle Italia Flite

Bradley Wiggins............................Selle Italia Flite

Alejandro Valverde.......................Selle Italia SLR

alanbikehouston

Well, that settles it for me. Although my rear is at least twice as wide as any of the guys on your list, and I have not been in a bike race in the past forty years, I'm gonna get rid of all of my Specialized Body Geometry saddles and start riding on a "pro" saddle from your list...as a true roadie, I know that the answer to any equipment question is: what would a 140 pound pro cyclist do?

Turboem1

You must have missed the part where I said

"Whatever your view is I don't care..."

shogun17

Tom Boonen and Robbie McEwen are on Regal Ti saddle I think.

Cadel Evans - Selle San Marco Era Arrowhead

Plenty of SLRs, even more Flites.

Vino - Flite Ti.

Jens Voigt - Turbomatic 4. Not sure if he changed.

kenny!

Don't they use whatever their sponsors give them? Or use whatever they want and rebadge it.

Thanks for posting the list!

Psimet2001 

Yes.

YMCA

Selle San Marco Rolls. It used to be the saddle choice of 80% of the pros. The other 20% rode a Turbo.

Made things easy, because they were both comfy, reliable and the only real choices.

allezsport

I am pretty sure that Gilberto Simoni, Danilo Diluca and Damiano Cunego are on Fizik Arione as well.

FatguyRacer

I've been a Flyte Gel user for almost a decade and a regular Flyte user prior. I switched to an Fizik Alliante this year on the IF. Im 80% sure im gonna switch back to a Flyte Gel. I've been switching back and forth the last couple of weeks between my IF and my Trek with a Flyte Gel saddle, and i notice I get less numb on the Trek. I should switch the saddles on the two and see what happens.

Soil_Sampler

Regal Ti
https://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007...nsition_saddle
https://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/20...nen/Boonen1676
https://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/20...addle_and_post

Chopper1

Surprised there are no Toupes. I wonder why?

oilman_15106

No "Brooks"! How dare they.

roadwarrior

Yep...

roadwarrior

No, because these MANUFACTURERS make multiple seats. Part of the reason why there's a nice selection of upper end seats. The manufacturer is the sponsor, not the model of seat.

oopfoo

That's funny, because recent photos show Tom Boonen riding this saddle:



which is a Selle San Marco, but not a Racing Replica. Apparently it's a new model, sans rivets unlike the Racing Replica he rode in 2005, though you CAN make out rivets under the cover, it seems. "Replica"--what a weird name for the thing. Hell, if HE can't have a real one, who CAN?

Surferbruce

i've read a couple places where boonens regal is the same one he's used for years, and won't give it up. supposedly he gets it recovered when needed but otherwise it's the same one. who knows if thats still the case.

prendrefeu

yes, but what about Linus Gerdemann?

shogun17

That's his Regal Ti with a ridiculous looking cover.

badfishgood

Cool list, thanks for sharing.

Yuppie

Anyone know why they call the saddles McEwen and Boonen ride, "Racing Replica"? Seriously! If the pro's are riding "replica" saddles, what does the real one look like? Or is "replica" Italian for something else?

shogun17

They are both regal Tis. Just different covers. At least, I'm sure of it.

shakeNbake

While we're on the topic, anyone know where you could get your saddle re-covered? I have a Concor that's peeling off.

Yuppie

They certainly are both pictures of Selle San Marco Regal saddles. But they are both badged as "Racing Replica" saddles. Why does San Marco make a "replica" saddle. What does the "original" look like? Why call it a "replica"?

San Marco also makes an Era, Concor and Aspide "Racing Replica" saddle but they are not readily available in the US. I think only one distributor gets them at the moment.

https://www.zepnat.com/component/page...art/Itemid,48/ <-- Aspide
https://www.zepnat.com/component/page...art/Itemid,48/ <-- Concor
https://www.zepnat.com/component/page...art/Itemid,48/ <-- Era
https://www.zepnat.com/component/page...art/Itemid,48/ <-- Regal

Surferbruce

looks to me like "racing replica" just means big logo under your ass. that said, i want one!

Yuppie

I recently got the Regal. Tomorrow is the debut ride. A place in Australia has the '04 model (Concor).

https://www.bikesportz.com.au/news/pr...cor_white.html