No denying it, I love the cyclist. I also enjoyed his recent
comments about AS and AC. Is it me, or is this bike so ugly it should come with a free bowl of soup?

IMO it's you.
The only fugly thing about that bike is Shimano's horrible-looking DA crankset. They just keep getting uglier. And now Ultegra looks crap, too.
...Although I see the carbon one is an improvement... great to see a proper big ring again instead of that other mess.
...Actually, come to think of it, the downtube looks a bit wrong where it's kinda pinched-off under the top tube... would prolly look better on bigger frames with a longer head tube. But aside from that it's pure sex.