As the 2024 WorldTour street season begins to wind down and the blue touchpaper of the cyclocross season ignites, the autumn all the time looks like one thing of an inflection level.
Of the WorldTour riders, excluding the few that fancy themselves a tilt at Il Lombardia subsequent week, most are on the regular decline into the low season, if they are not already there. And these on the nocturnal ‘cross calendar are on the ascendency, little doubt of their last coaching block as racing will get underway, with the primary of the Exact Cross sequence additionally coming subsequent week.
Sandwiched nearly completely between the 2 opposing seasons is a race that bridges the disciplines, the UCI Gravel World Championships.
How ironic, or maybe inevitable, it was then that the lads’s and ladies’s elite races have been received by two riders which have dominated each side of drop-bar biking? With six cyclocross world titles every, in addition to a listing of street race titles that cement them each among the many biggest riders of all time, Mathieu van der Poel and Marianne Vos took residence the lads’s and ladies’s titles respectively.
But placing the spectacular racing from each of the Dutch superstars apart for a second – my race group colleagues have lined that in nice element already – the streets of Leuven, Belgium have been additionally bustling with an array of latest and fascinating tech.
For instance, earlier than the racing had even begun, Vos had made headlines together with her Cervelo Caledonia race bike. Our eagle-eyed Editor, Peter Stuart, noticed an uncommon hub laced into her wheels, which turned out to be an automated tyre inflation system from Dutch firm, Gravaa, the identical firm that paired with Visma Lease-a-Bike on the 2023 Paris Roubaix.
Elsewhere, an fascinating new Lapierre – full with entrance suspension and floating seatstays – was noticed towards an FDJ-Suez group automobile, whereas in Sunday’s males’s race, Matej Mohorič was noticed utilizing a dropper seatpost.
Not too dissimilar to our Unbound tech gallery, albeit with some added restrictions because of the UCI’s governance, we additionally noticed fascinating paint, intelligent puncture safety hacks, new tyres and extra, so sit again and luxuriate in as we deliver you a premium gallery full of the whole lot that we noticed.
Undoubtedly the largest tech speaking level of the weekend in Leuven was the return of the Gravaa self-inflating tyre strain system that was first unveiled at Paris-Roubaix 2023.
Vos paired the system with Dugast Typhoon 33mm tubeless cyclocross tyres to assist her take the rainbow jersey in a 3rd self-discipline. Reports recommend that Kopecky heard the system participating all through the race, and Vos even perhaps used it to get well from a puncture. An indication of issues to return?
The system was additionally paired with gravel tyres by a few of Vos’ commerce teammates.
However, different riders from the Visma-Lease a Bike setup opted towards the modern tech and went for a tried and examined technique.
Cans of tyre restore sealant have been a typical sight throughout the bunch. The Italian group all had a Vittoria Pit Stop can strapped to their bikes.
Maybe it is in step with the Spirit of Gravel, however sealant strapped onto Silvia Persico’s customized Colnago G3X with low cost masking tape actually bugs us.
In typical Colnago vogue, the small print on this bike, just like the design on the highest tube storage cowl, actually set it aside.
The shimmering aqua paint job on the Italian’s steed was one thing to behold. It wasn’t our favorite bike from the ladies’s race, although.
Rwanda’s Xav Nirere took that prize with a customized Factor Ostro Gravel that will get higher the longer you cease and stare at it.
Factor have outdone themselves right here with a design that fades from white to inexperienced, with darkish inexperienced leopard print subtly protecting the body.
A splash of fluorescent yellow to the forks and chain stays makes the bike much more vibrant.
From eye-popping paint jobs to eye-catching unreleased steeds. Cyclingnews’ editor, Peter, noticed this Lapierre gravel bike within the pits on Saturday forward of the ladies’s race.
It’s seemingly that this bike will add to the French model’s Pulsium ALLROAD – which is presently their solely gravel-specific body.
Floating seatstays have been one of many key new options, alongside entrance suspension for these heftier gravel tracks.
We additionally seen a RockShox Reverb AXS XPLR dropper put up fitted to the bike.
The splayed handlebars permit for an aggressive driving place which, alongside the suspension enhancements, suggests to us that this shall be a motorbike made for these hardcore off-road challenges.
From one gravel racing machine to a different, Road World Champion Lotte Kopecky took to the grime tracks and paths of Leuven with presumably one of many lightest bikes within the pack.
Kopecky’s Specialized S-Works Crux appeared model new, with the Belgian rider working a 48/35T 12-speed SRAM Red groupset for the race.
The Belgian went for the sunshine contact method to restore kits, opting only for one CO2 inflator.
Her Crux additionally had an unbranded, sponsor-incorrect saddle fitted, as is pretty frequent among the many girls’s peloton. We consider this can be a Syncros saddle.
The cockpit is the Roval Rapide Cockpit, designed for the street, however clearly succesful sufficient for gravel.
Meanwhile, Mathieu van der Poel rode the gravel-specific Canyon Grail CFR to victory on Sunday.
We love this element of the bike’s actual measurements. The Dutchman was driving on a stack top of 590mm, together with his bike’s attain being 411mm.
MVDP’s Grail CFR can be fitted with Shimano’s Dura-Ace r9270 Di2 as an alternative of the model’s GRX groupset. Intriguingly, the Dutchman has unbranded rims fitted – might they be an unreleased providing from Shimano or maybe from a competitor?
The Dutchman remained loyal to his common Selle Italia Flite Boost Kit Carbonio Superflow saddle over the model’s gravel-specific choices.
This Ridley Grifn was dimension XS and in addition featured an aggressive match.
A Deda Zero100 stem and handlebar of the identical model have been used to supply this attacking angle.
Speaking of aggressive approaches to gravel racing, these five-spoke Xentis High X wheels are proper up there too!
Alpecin-Deceuninck sports activities physio Tess Rindler-Bachl represented Austria within the girls’s elite race on the eye-catching Canyon.
The Xentis wheelset retails for €1,629 and weighs in at 1100g for the pair.
Just as a result of gravel bikes get a bit dusty, it doesn’t suggest that there is not any place for some bling. Tessa Neefjes had carbon-spoked Cadex wheels and a CeramicSpeed cage that each featured accents of gold.
Meanwhile sixth-place finisher Connor Swift rode Pinarello’s all-road providing of the Dogma X.
One of the bike’s key USPs is the XStays designed to soak up the vibrations of the rugged gravel terrain whereas guaranteeing the correct quantity of stiffness too.
Swift described the X as similar to its street sibling, the F. His body for Gravel Worlds was fitted with a MOST Talon Ultra Light built-in handlebar.
While Swift’s bike was similar in paint job to his commerce group’s street bike, Lucinda Brand was handled to a contemporary lick of paint on her Trek Domane.
Fellow Lidl-Trek rider Shirin van Anrooij opted for the brand new Trek Checkmate although – the most recent model of the model’s all-out gravel racing mannequin.
The Dutch rider was utilizing a SRAM Red AXS 1x setup with a Okay-Edge Braze-On chain catcher.
Meanwhile, Heidi Franz was driving a customized Factor LS for the ladies’s elite race that used an über light-weight Easton crankset.
Despite the high-end, light-weight cranks, Franz wasn’t afraid to go old-school together with her puncture instruments. The American had a tiny tyre plug equipment strapped to her body, maybe in a bid to avoid wasting weight?
And yep, you noticed that proper. Franz additionally fitted a bell to her bike, telling Cyclingnews “I added a bell to see if it might assist me get previous!”
Another minute element we noticed within the pits was the usage of zip ties by former British nationwide champion Danni Shrosbree.
The plastic cables supplied additional help for her bottle cages as she tackled the uneven terrain.
If Shrosbree’s bottle cage hack was unassuming, her Felt Breed was something however that.
Plenty of her parts have seen a season’s price of racing however the Breed body with its graffiti-style decals pops.
Shrosbree opted for the Shimano GRX 48/31T groupset with a 4iiii energy meter. She was additionally driving on Hunt Limitless wheels with 40mm Kenda Alluvium Pro gravel tyres.
This Selle SMP Dynamic saddle was an fascinating pairing for Lander Loockx’s Cannondale SuperSix EVO and its Tour de Tietema group livery.
We really feel just like the group mechanic might’ve completed a tidier job with {the electrical} tape right here.
Lastly, Reverb Cycling Team’s bikes, constructed round a 3T Racemax body, had a stealthy paint job for starters, however then we seen another intriguing parts.
The bike featured a modern 3T More stem for built-in cable routing.
And the 3T Torno 1X-specific crankset that offers off a fairly brutalist really feel to say its made in Italy.
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