In line with Decathlon CMA CGM Team's pre-Giro plan, Felix Gall passed the second rest day of this year's edition on the provisional podium, within reach of outsider Afonso Eullio, but not as close to leader Jonas Vingegaard. However heading into final week, Gall cannot grow too confident of his ow...

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Jones as well as ultracyclist Robin Gemperle will be racing a Scott RC Gravel 32-inch 'pure prototype' bike

The 2026 Giro dItalia enters its decisive phase from Tuesday. After two weeks of racing, the battle for the maglia rosa moves onto the most demanding terrain with a final week built for the mountains and big gaps. Although Jonas Vingegaard retains a significant lead on GC, the three remaining high-...

Right on cue for the UNBOUND Gravel race in Kansas, Scott have become one of the first bike manufacturers to throw a 32 gravel prototype into the mix. The brand are testing the concept with last years winner Cameron Jones and ultra-distance specialist Robin Gemperle on the brutal 200-mile course. What started life as a theoretical concept on the drawing board now has to prove itself at the toughest gravel race in the world.The gravel racing scene has evolved massively in recent years. The trend towards significantly wider tires is impossible to ignore, and its something we recently explored in depth in our big gravel tire group test. Just a few years ago, slim 40 mm tires were considered the benchmark. Now, 45 mm rubber and, depending on the race, even XC tires measuring over 50 mm wide have become the norm. While 32 wheels promise similar performance gains, they also rewrite the rulebook entirely. Moving to this wheel size demands far more radical solutions and introduces an entirely new level of engineering challenges.That becomes obvious when you look at the two Scott riders putting the prototype through its paces at UNBOUND. Swiss ultra-endurance specialist Robin Gemperle, standing at 1.88 m, will presumably be riding a large frame where the huge wheels still look reasonably proportional. New Zealander Cameron Jones, at around 1.80 m tall, is a far better benchmark for the average rider. Thats exactly where the technical limitations start to appear.Particularly with medium and smaller frame sizes below 56 cm, the concept quickly runs into packaging issues. The enormous wheels force engineers to use a much shorter head tube to keep the already towering stack height under control, which often leaves aggressively slammed stems as the only viable solution. Combine that with the goal of maintaining a compact, aggressive wheelbase for sharp handling and toe overlap with the oversized front wheel becomes almost inevitable.The bikes ridden by both athletes are built around a specially developed Scott RC Gravel 32 frameset and roll on huge custom-built wheels fitted with 50 mm Schwalbe G-ONE RX tires. The component choices are particularly fascinating because the industry still has no established standards for this wheel size.Cameron Jones is running a mix of Shimano XTR components and Dura-Ace shifters, paired with ultra-short 160 mm cranks and custom Industry Nine wheels. Robin Gemperle, meanwhile, lines up with SRAMs RED XPLR 13-speed groupset.Unsurprisingly, both riders are full of praise, especially when talking about the supposedly revolutionary cornering traction. Scott stress that these are purely prototype bikes and will never reach production in this exact form. Accordingly, the brand are keeping technical details to a minimum. We already had a chance to test a similar feasibility study developed by design studio Faction Bikes a few weeks ago, and youll be able to read that review very soon here on our site. Still, history tends to repeat itself with projects like these: what wins at World Cups or races like UNBOUND often finds its way into production sooner or later.We already had another 32 prototype from Faction Bikes on test to explore how bigger wheels affect gravel bike handling. Youll be able to read the full review very soon here on our site.Blessing or pointless hype?The announcement comes at exactly the moment the 32 debate, which we explored earlier this year in our The MIRROR format, is spilling over from mountain biking into the gravel scene. From a purely physics-based perspective, the theoretical advantages on brutal courses like UNBOUND are hard to ignore.Rollover performance and comfort: The noticeably shallower attack angle allows the bike to glide far more smoothly over sharp rocks and deep potholes. On the endless straight roads of Kansas, that alone could make a decisive difference in reducing fatigue over time and helping riders stay on pace deep into the race.Flywheel effect: Once up to speed, the larger rotating mass carries momentum exceptionally well. Combined with the stronger gyroscopic stabilisation of the bigger wheels, this promises maximum composure and stability on high-speed descents.That said, these advantages come with major physical and geometric compromises, exactly as we predicted back in January. We saw it not only with the Faction Bikes prototype, which was specifically designed to create the smallest feasible frame size possible, but now also with Scotts approach. A tire circumference thats roughly 10% larger results in noticeably slower acceleration and reduced agility. The wheel size also forces dramatic geometry changes, including longer chainstays, increased risk of toe overlap and altered cockpit proportions.Thats why our stance remains clear: for elite athletes and extreme races like UNBOUND, where the courses are fast rather than especially tight or steep, this concept could make sense in the pursuit of marginal gains. For the wider market, however, it feels like an unnecessarily risky trend.The cycling industry is still grappling with overcapacity, pressure on retailers and declining sales volumes, structural issues we only recently analysed in our editorial covering the 41 Leadership Summit in Leonberg. In that kind of environment, introducing an entirely new wheel standard solves none of the industrys underlying problems. Instead, it creates yet more standards, expensive tooling costs for manufacturers and potential spare parts chaos for consumers. More SKUs reduce resilience in todays market instead of strengthening it.ConclusionScott are using UNBOUND Gravel as a high-profile proving ground to showcase whats technically possible. Whether 32 wheels will genuinely reshape gravel racing remains highly questionable given the extreme geometry compromises and the looming threat of yet another standards war. The coming weekend, and the years ahead, will reveal whether the concept delivers or remains a niche solution for a very limited audience. Either way, were excited to see how the prototypes perform on the gravel roads of Kansas and which manufacturer will be first to launch a production 32 gravel bike.Find out more at scott-sports.com.Find out more at scott-sports.com.Der Beitrag Scotts 32 Gravel-Prototype breaks Cover at UNBOUND The Future of Gravel-Racing? erschien zuerst auf GRAN FONDO Cycling Magazine.

We may keep hearing about how 32 wheels are set to take over cross-country mountain biking, but Scotts new 32 aero gravel bike prototype is set to shake things up. Set for an Unbound gravel racing debut this weekend, the Scott Racing Project hopes to show that big wheel rollover improvements can boost speeds for any off-road racing. And without the need for external suspension providers or complex moving parts, Scott just had to create a new carbon frame and fork themselvesScott 32 Racing Concept prototype aero gravel bike(Jones bike photos by Rachel Galipo/Scott)And dont think this is just a marketing exercise (which its clearly also that), because 2025 Unbound winner and 2025 Lifetime Grand Prix overall winner Cameron Jones will be racing this gravel monster for the 200-mile win again this year!This bike makes you feel like youre levitating over the surface. Ill be experiencing a road race while everybody else is racing gravel! The driving traction and cornering grip is revolutionary. Im genuinely scared how fast Ill be able to corner once on a course with proper descents. Cameron JonesWhat do we know about the bike?(Gemperles bike photos by Lukas Schumacher/Scott)At first glance, it almost looked like a Dangerholm project bike with the massive, wide tires and wheels and a slammed cockpit. But no, this is certainly an all-new carbon prototype. And after we havent seen a new gravel race bike from Scott in a few years, it kinda looks like an all-new, more aero design.With the taller front wheel meaning a longer fork and a steeper slope to the downtube, Scott has given their 32 gravel prototype a short, forward-extended headtube like were used to seeing on their mountain bikes that also have to accommodate higher front ends (thats also where the Dangerholm connection sparked in my brain).The result is that this 32 Scott gravel prototype gets a long front end, with sleekly integrated aero shaping coming off the fork crown that makes it look almost more Foil than Addict. And then out back, the longer wheelbase also makes for a lower angle to the dropped seatstays, again making this prototype look more like an aero road bike than your average graveller.Tech detailsOf course, we are dealing with a custom aero carbon frame and fork, both newly developed for 32 gravel racing. But it does appear to stick with the D-shaped seatpost that youd find on todays Addict Gravel RC, as Jones is on a full D-shaped post and Gemperle is running the bump-eating Syncros version.Individual custom Unbound race builds for Jones & GemperleThere are also some nice custom aero 32 wheels for Jones, too. Scott describes them simply as custom Industry Nine wheels, not sharing any more detail about what looks to be maybe a 55mm deep aero carbon rim in the new 32 wheel diameter.Other than that, Jones bike combines up a few standard components for his build, even if the mix is a bit unconventional.premium Shimano 112 Di2 groupset combining XTR derailleur, Dura-Ace shifters & brakes, and a GRX crankseta 4iiii Powermeter on the short 160mm GRX cranks370mm wide ENVE Aero Road barsslammed 100mm Syncros alloy stem50mm Schwalbe RX 32 gravel tiresSPD pedalsJones isnt the only Scott athlete set to race the 32 gravel prototype; Robin Gemperle, winner of the 2025 Tour Divide and Silk Road Mountain Race, will also take on Unbound on his own 32 Scott bike. His setup is a bit different, and maybe more conventional? Although Gemperle does have a different possibly 60mm deep aero wheelset that Scott doesnt share any details on. We can see, though, that it features conventional flange, J-bend hubs, 24-spoke lacing, and visible 3K weave carbon reinforcing the spoke bed on the otherwise UD carbon rims.complete SRAM RED AXS XPLR 1x 13-speed wireless groupset, including a Red powermeter 360mm flared Syncros alloy handlebar100mm Syncros alloy stem &50mm Schwalbe RX 32 gravel tiresHT road pedalsBoth Jones & Gemperle also get subtly different custom paint jobs, with small nods to their individual personalities in the detailing. A kiwi for New Zealander Cameron Jones, and a dotwatching track for ultra-distancer Robin Gemperle.Will 32 Scott Addict Gravel RC bike be coming soon to a shop near you?Scott says simply, no. These are Emporia-only bikes, butRC stands for Racing Concept, Scotts performance standard: products designed with racing intent from day one and validated in real competition. It was critical to get Scotts top gravel athletes on the bike as early as possible in the development process, where fast, honest feedback makes all the difference. What works in theory must prove itself in the real world.Officially, these 32 Scott gravel prototype bikes that Jones & Gemperle will race are pure prototypes and will never be released on the market. But well have to see how long Scott keeps their word on that!Scott-sports.comThe post Scott 32 Aero Gravel Bike Prototype Set For UNBOUND Racing Debut appeared first on Bikerumor.

Its one of those days when you just want to be outside, riding your bike. But if, like Ryan Mallon, youre being forced to work today, you might as well spend it procrastinating and reading cycling stories on the Tuesday live blog, right?

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