The world champion's new work machine: We got the Canyon Aeroad of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in front of the lens. Like his team-mates around sprinter Jasper Philipsen, the top star rides a previously unreleased racing machine from Koblenz.
Compared to the current model, the bike shows hardly any visible changes. The steering head and the down tube look a little more delicate, the transition to the top tube is slightly more angular. The transition between the seat stays and seat tube has also been redesigned. The dropouts on the drive side are closed. The aero seatpost clamp is now located in the top tube instead of the seat tube.
Van der Poel (naturally) rides a CFR frame, Canyon's high-end counterpart to the S-Works models from Specialized or the Reparto Corse bikes from Bianchi. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to put the bike on the scales. For the current Aeroad, we determined a weight of over 7000 grams depending on the equipment, the Aero power was 204 watts. This makes the Canyon the fastest road bike in the peloton. Last year's winner Jonas Vingegaard's Cervélo S5 achieved 205 watts in the TOUR test.
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Van der Poel's frameset is also characterised by numerous details that are reminiscent of his parade ride at the Road World Championships last year: splashes of rainbow colours, the race number under the bottom bracket that the Dutchman wore in Glasgow, or the dates of his triumphant ride on the underside of the top tube.
For the first stage, the 29-year-old combined a 54/40 crank with an 11-34 cassette from Shimano. The Japanese component giant is also providing the wheels: 28 millimetre wide tubeless tyres from Vittoria are mounted on the C50. For the handlebars, van der Poel relies on a one-piece cockpit from Canyon (CP0049) with a width of 420 millimetres and a stem length of 120 millimetres.
The carbon saddle from Selle Italia also pays homage to the world championship title. The start number holder is bolted to the seat post (SP0075). In order to save weight, the Alpecin pro has disc brakes with a diameter of 140 millimetres at the front and rear. The standard wheels are fitted with 160 millimetre discs.
TOUR at the Tour de France: Exclusive live blog
Julian Schultz
Editor
