In a seismic shift for the Canyon Endurace the new CFR, officially unveiled today, comes with cutting-edge aerodynamics, pro-race geometry and a side order of comfort. The new CFR had already broken cover, being raced to a top-10 placing for Jasper Philipsen at Dwars door Vlaanderen. It featured again at the Tour of Flanders, with Zoe Bckstedt fifth in the women's edition. This week Charlotte Kool won on the Endurace CFR at Scheldeprijs. Its also confirmed to be the bike of choice for the cobbles of this weekend's Paris-Roubaix for AlpecinPremier Tech. Sporting a design based heavily on Canyon's three-times Paris-Roubaix winning race bike, the Aeroad, the new CFR gets 35mm tyre clearance, a UDH rear dropout, a new series of cockpit options and a new VCLS aero post. With the new Endurace CFR testing in the wind tunnel at only one watt less efficient than the 3x Paris-Roubaix winning Aeroad, Canyon has created the most aerodynamic endurance bike ever made. Could this be the ultimate blend of aerodynamic speed and cobble-crushing comfort? Design engineer Chris Senn says of the new bike: The frame and geometry is aerodynamically very close to the Aeroad almost identical but the wider tyres and comfort reduce fatigue. Its a bike to win really hard races. Read more: The new Canyon Endurace CFR is good, but I dont think it's an endurance bike Canyon Endurace CFR what you need to know The CFR is a Classics-optimised race bike with pro geometry Developed with Alpecin-Premier Tech 35mm tyre clearance Two models at launch and MyCanyon custom options Multiple cockpit options New VCLS aero post Only one watt more drag than the Aeroad The Endurace is desgined to be more comfortable than the Aeroad, yet stiffer at the head tube. Canyon Built for racing, optimised for comfort Zoe Bckstedt's Endurace CFR from the Tour of Flanders. Canyon The CFRs development involved a huge amount of input from the AlpecinPremier Tech team, in particular team manager Christoph Roodhooft and van der Poel. Senn explains: For the new Endurace, our development philosophy was: comfort creates speed, and in turn speed creates more comfort. If your bike and setup are comfortable enough, you can ride faster. The decision to create a hybrid between aero race bike and endurance bike came from talks between the team and Canyons engineers. Tyre clearance is 35mm. Canyon Lead engineer Lukas Birr says: We took our winning Aeroad as a basis, then transferred what we wanted to do onto the new Endurace. We talked to the pros, talked to the mechanics, and analysed our own data. The wishes from the pros were explicitly for sprint scenarios accelerating abruptly out of 90-degree corners on the cobbles. So, we made the bike as efficient as possible in power transfer. The added comfort comes from the ability to up tyre width to 35mm, along with a new, dedicated aero seatpost with VCLS tech that provides 25% more compliance than the post found on the Aeroad. The reshaped seat tube tapers at its bottom third, adding comfort-bringing flex. A stiffer endurance bike? The Aeroad has already proven its worth multiple times on the testing cobbles, but Canyons engineers listened to team feedback, and in particular van der Poel's. His opinion about the Aeroad was he wanted the stiffness to be increased to keep the handling sharp on the demanding surfaces of the cobbled Classics. It seems Canyon is impressed by van der Poel's ability to feel out a bikes performance. Canyons global director of pro sports, Andreas Walzer, reveals: We have learned a lot from Mathieu. He is completely interested in the bikes and knows a lot from cyclocross. Hes really connected to the material and feels everything. "For example, when we started developing the old Aeroad, he could immediately feel a difference in the bottom bracket stiffness. There was a difference of just 10 Newton meters, and he said: This bike is not as stiff as the old one. "Our engineers didnt believe him until they measured it in the laboratory they were amazed he could feel that difference. His sensitivity helps us a lot in development. Head-tube stiffness The Endurace CFR tested just a single watt slower than the Aeroad. Canyon For the new Endurace CFR, the choices of carbon fibre material and design have led to a head-tube stiffness tested at 116Nm, compared to the Aeroads 103Nm. The carbon composition uses a blend of YS80 pitch-based fibres, as a complement to the usual Toray T1100 and T800 fibres common in high-grade carbon framesets. Pitch-based fibres such as the YS80 are derived from coal tar or petroleum pitch, compared to Pan fibres, which are petroleum-derived. The advantage of Pitch is the extreme rigidity more than three times that of Pan fibres. However, they need to be used smartly and sparingly because they're much more brittle than Pan fibres. Aerodynamics at its core The Endurace CFR shares much of its design with the Aeroad, with the vital differences of upping tyre clearance to 35mm and tweaks to the geometry longer chainstays and wheelbase to accommodate the tyres and improve stability at speed. Size 2XS XS S M L XL Rider height 160-166cm 166-172cm 172-178cm 178-184cm 184-190cm 190-196cm Seat tube 432mm 462mm 492mm 522mm 552mm 582mm Top tube length 515mm 528mm 550mm 560mm 573mm 599mm Head tube length 88mm 107mm 121mm 142mm 162mm 188mm Head angle 69.5 71 72.8 73.25 73.3 73.5 Seat tube angle 72.5 73.5 73.1 73.1 73.2 73.2 Chainstay 413mm 413mm 413mm 413mm 413mm 415mm Wheelbase 985mm 986mm 986mm 990mm 1003mm 1029mm Effective stack 590mm 610mm 625mm 645mm 666mm 691mm Effective reach 519mm 537mm 548mm 563mm 580mm 598mm Edit Table The CFR was developed and fully tested at race speeds using the GST wind tunnel in Immenstadt, and the results were suprising. With a pedalling dummy (called Ferdi) in place, the CFR tested with a system drag of 205W at 45km/h. Compare that to Canyons out-and-out aero bike, the Aeroad, and its only a single watt less or, in Canyons words, "within the margin of error". Multiple cockpits The new one-piece Race bar. Warren Rossiter / Ourmedia The Endurace CFR comes with an updated Pace bar the width-adjustable integrated cockpit system. That gives the bar 50mm of width and 20mm of height adjustment with a single TX25 torx tool. The new Pace bar comes as standard with the classic drop that means a 130mm drop, zero flare and adjustable widths across 370, 395 and 420mm bars. You can also specify a 'Race' 116mm drop. This bar adds 10mm to the effective reach and comes with a 14-degree flare. The final option is a Comfort drop. This is compact, at 108mm, and reduces the effective reach by 10mm. If you want the full pro option, Canyon also offers the new one-piece non-adjustable Race bar (CP0053). Fashionably narrow at either 350mm or 375mm, this bar reduces the effective stack by 20mm and adds 10mm to the effective reach. It comes with a 14-degree flare and 116mm drop. According to Canyons testing, it saves 2W at 45km/h over the Pace bar and shaves 120g in weight. The price for all upgrade drops (Compact, Race and Control) is229.99 / $259.95. The CP053 Race cockpit is599.95 / $699.95. Accessory pricing for the UK is still TBC. Two models, lots of options Canyon Endurace CFR Dura-Ace Di2. Warren Rossiter / Ourmedia The CFR is unashamedly a pro-level race bike, and at launch there are only two, high-end models. One has Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 and DT Swiss ARC 1100 wheels, and the other is a SRAM Red AXS model with the same wheelset. Both come with pro-level gearing 50/36, 11-30 on the Shimano bike and 50/37, 10-33 for the SRAM model. Both bikes are priced impressively keenly at 8,500 / 9,000 / $10,499. In comparison, Cannondales Synapse LAB71 with RED AXS is 13,000. A Specialized S-Works Roubaix with Dura-Ace Di2 is 12,000 and Giants Defy Advanced SL 0 is 9,499. Canyon Endurace CFR SRAM Red AXS. Canyon Thats not the whole story, though, because both bikes are part of Canyons MyCanyon programme. This gives the choice of multiple cockpit options, paint finishes, components and accessories.

Local animals have also been wreaking havoc on the notorious sector, leaving branches on the cobbles days before the race

A great addition for night, winter and low light riding. Very visible and lightweight too

Decathlon CMA CGM may be one of the standout teams of the early 2026 season, but behind the results, significant structural changes are already in motion. According to a report from WielerFlits, the team is set to switch from a French to a Swiss licence from 2027, a move driven not by performance, b...

Swiss bicycle aerodynamics expert Swiss Side has launched its Performance Platform, which it describes as a decision support system to help cyclists and triathletes choose equipment and develop pacing strategies. The Performance Platform is designed to take the guesswork out of choosing what equipment to use in races and how to pace rides. Swiss Side says the platform can be used not only for time trials and triathlons, but also for road races and other challenges such as KOM and FKT attempts. Its based on a simulation developed by Swiss Side that uses physics to make data-driven decisions, with factors such as the course, weather and wind conditions feeding into a quantification of time gains available from optimal choices. The tool can help with equipment selection, identifying where time is gained or lost. The simulation also takes account of rider and bike parameters, such as aerodynamics, rolling resistance, bike and rider weight, and the riders physiology. Swiss Side uses its database from its own testing and work with pro athletes to estimate factors that riders may not know themselves. Optimal pacing strategies The platform automatically groups course segments and identifies optimal power output for each. Swiss Side claims the simulation can identify savings of several minutes over 100km, with the same effort output. It can be used for equipment comparisons and pacing strategy optimisation, with features such as subdivision of courses into, for example, steep descents and flat sections with tailwinds. These are used to provide an accessible pacing strategy and power-output targets, with time gains and losses for alternative pacing approaches. As well as uploading users own route files, theres a built-in library of official courses that they can access. The tool provides feedback to help athletes learn from their simulation results. Developed with WorldTour teams Swiss Side identified more than an eight-minutes time saving on the 180km bike leg of Ironman Nice. Swiss Side says its Performance Platform has been used by WorldTour teams and triathletes to improve results. Beginning in 2014, it applied methods used in Formula 1 racing in work with Team Sky on time trials, team time trials and key segments of road stages. It continued to work with the team once it became Ineos Grenadiers and has more recently worked with Decathlon CMA CGM. Swiss Side gives the example of a simulation of Laura Philipps 180km Ironman Nice bike leg in 2024, when a tri bike was shown to be more than eight minutes faster than a road bike, despite its heavier weight and the technical, hilly course with 2,500m of ascent. There were more than two minutes to be gained over a steady effort by over-pacing on climbs and recovering on descents. Another example given is wheel choice, where a heavier, more aero wheelset was shown to be faster than a lightweight climbing wheelset on mixed courses. The Swiss Side Performance Platform is web-based and can be accessed via a phone, tablet or computer. Public access is available immediately and priced at 19 per month or 119 per year.

The countdown to the 2026 Giro dItalia is well underway, with the first Grand Tour of the season set to begin on May 8 and run through to the 31st. As always, the race is expected to bring together the biggest names in the peloton, including former winner Egan Bernal. The Colombian, who claimed vic...