The Cervélo Soloist Carbon is every bit as aerodynamic as the Soloist Team aluminum frameset -- the most aero frame ever to be ridden in the professional peloton, and one of the most accomplished framesets in recent history judging by its palmares: Victories in Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Paris-Nice (twice), Tour of the Med (twice), Criterium International (twice) and numerous Ironman titles. But thanks to the Soloist Carbon's full carbon fiber construction, it's poised to take the place of the Soloist Team as Cervélo's ultimate aero road racing frame. Why? Because it offers weight advantages no less amazing than its aerodynamics. Despite the sizeable surface area of its sculpted tubes, the Cervelo Soloist Carbon weighs little more than the Cervélo R2.5 -- the wonderbike Ivan Basso rode in his sprint victory over Lance Armstrong in the mountaintop finish atop La Mongie in the 2004 Tour de France.

Every tube on the Cervélo Soloist Carbon has been designed to optimize its aerodynamics. Its headtube is only 1mm wider than what you'll find on the Cervélo P3 time trial bike, with a downtube virtually identical to the supremely aero design you find on the P3. The sloping top tube has an airfoil cross section in the direction of the airflow. The asymmetric design of the Wolf seatstays promote an optimal airflow over the thin stay and across a rotating rear wheel.

And beyond weight and aerodynamics is the ever-critical requirement of stiffness. The ideal Soloist Carbon rider is cut from the same cloth as Team CSC's Jens Voight -- a breakaway specialist, solo or in a small group. You don't spend a whole day outpacing the peloton by spinning moderate gears. Rather, you've gotta push the big meat and nothing torques your frame more than sustained huge gear efforts. The Soloist Carbon is built with a visibly overbuilt BB area to provide you with a frame that won't waste a single watt of your power. Its substantial volume and smooth contours don't just eliminate frame flex, it adds strength to the frame as well. One other important detail is the new design of the chainstays: They're specifically engineered to complement the stiffness of the BB area.

The breakaway pedigree of the Cervélo Soloist Carbon was made known to the world during stage 9 of the 2005 Tour de France. Jens Voight broke away 4km into the stage, and by the time the day was done he found himself in the maillot jaune. It wasn't just a matter of contorting himself into an tuck for 4 hours and taking advantage of the fact that he was riding the most aero bike in the peloton. Stage 9 took in six mountain passes. It showcased the versatility of the Soloist Carbon -- invisible to the wind on the flat valley basins, and invisible to gravity on the mammoth climbs. Team CSC continued its display of the Soloist Carbon's balance of aerodynamics and lightness in 2006. First was Frank Schleck's solo victory in the savage hills of the Amstel Gold Race, and then later came Ivan Basso's performance in the mountains of the Giro d'Italia where he single-handedly shelled every G.C. favorite despite the fact that the Giro was a secondary race for him in comparison to his Tour de France ambitions.