Reigning highway race world champion Mathieu van der Poel has been having fun with his time within the rainbow bands already this yr with a historic Classics marketing campaign. Since he drew a near his spring marketing campaign at Liège-Bastogne-Liège the place he completed on the rostrum, Van der Poel didn’t race once more till lining up in Florence in the beginning of the Tour de France.
On his method to claiming victory at E3 Saxo Classic, Ronde Van Vlaanderen, and Paris-Roubaix, Van der Poel rode a quite simple white Canyon Aeroad with solely small and modest hints of his world champion standing.
For the most important race in biking Van der Poel’s Aeroad, though nonetheless delicate compared to the earlier world champion colourways, is now a bit of bolder with rainbow stripes adorning the down tube, fork and seat tube.
It’s not simply the paint job that’s new, Van der Poel can be driving a at present unreleased Canyon Aeroad that was first noticed on the Critérium du Dauphiné. Although at first look the brand new frameset seems to be to share a near-identical silhouette to the present Aeroad there are some clear modifications to additional optimise the bike to be as slippery by way of the wind as doable.
The understated paint scheme makes use of the identical shiny white undercoat that Van der Poel has been driving all through this season, however going for a paint splatter impact leaves the white undercoat house to peek by way of, which helps to makes for a extra understated look.
The new bike seems to be to be a refresh to the prevailing platform somewhat than a redesign with a sequence of small tweaks updating the bike’s aerodynamic credentials.
Behind the seat tube, a brand new smoother junction joins each seat stays collectively earlier than they discover their method to the seat tube. (Image credit score: Josh Croxton)When we acquired our arms on Van der Poel’s bike it was forward of the punchy opening levels in Italy. As a outcome, the usual professional 54/40 crankset was paired to an 11-34 cassette. (Image credit score: Josh Croxton)A element that’s all too straightforward to overlook is situated on the underside of the highest tube that lists the stats on the Glasgow World Championship highway race course, together with how lengthy his race-winning assault was. (Image credit score: Josh Croxton)Van der Poel’s driving place is about as aggressive as it may be with the Canyon Pro Base built-in cockpit slammed as little as it’ll go together with the bars trying to have a detrimental rise to drop the bars even decrease. (Image credit score: Josh Croxton)Although the Pro Base cockpit was labelled as 120mm in size with our trusty tape measure it measured nearer to 130mm. (Image credit score: Josh Croxton)Van der Poel clearly cares for consolation on the bike together with his bars measuring 42cm finish to finish. By trendy requirements, that is pretty huge however it doesn’t appear to be holding the World Champion again. (Image credit score: Future)One of the options of the Aeroad’s built-in cockpit is the power to regulate the bar’s width. This is finished on the underside of the bar with two bolts on both sides locking the bar into place at one of many pre-determined widths. (Image credit score: Josh Croxton)As a Shimano-sponsored workforce, Alpecin-Deceuninck is rolling on the Japanese model’s Dura-Ace wheels with Van der Poel opting to make use of the mid-depth C50 somewhat than the deeper C60. (Image credit score: Josh Croxton)It is not only the frameset that has acquired the rainbow makeover. Van der Poel’s Selle Italia Flite Boost Kit Carbonio Superflow saddle additionally sports activities a rainbow motif and his initials on the again left portion. (Image credit score: Josh Croxton)To mix in with the rainbow design Van der Poel has some oil-slick Elite Carbon Vico bottle cages. (Image credit score: Josh Croxton)Shimano takes care of measuring Van der Poel’s explosive assaults with the Dura-Ace crankset that includes the model’s dual-sided energy meter. (Image credit score: Josh Croxton)The fork reveals the main points of the rainbow design with the blue and crimson bands hidden by the transponder sleeve. Also notably the dropout of the brand new fork is totally easy from the surface. (Image credit score: Josh Croxton)
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