Canyons flagship gravel bike is set for a significant overhaul, with the unreleased Grail CFR making an unofficial teaser debut at Eurobike. The bike has already made the rounds on the racing circuit since early this spring. But now, we get a better up-close view both at a race-ridden bike, and one that looks closer to production. And what I saw looks a lot like the recent Endurace CFRs aero redesign, just with much bigger tires and some flatter aerodynamic shapes that also seem to be Aeroad-inspired, too!All-new Canyon Grail CFR aero gravel bike coming soon!(All photos/Cory Benson)Canyon describes the new Grail CFR as a combination of road bike aerodynamics with tire clearance more likely to be found on a mountain bike. And gravel race bikes certainly seem to be headed in that direction. Until the last year or two, gravel race bikes fell into two categories: the Euro-style with limited clearance as many racers on smoother tracks were on faster 40mm tires; or the American-style with clearance for up to 50mm tires, to take on rougher gravel tracks. Anything bigger than that was the purview or adventure bikepackers, and aerodynamics seemed like it wasnt a concern.Then, more pros started racing longer ultra-distance events or rougher tracks. And all of a sudden, combining massive tire clearance, quick-handling geometry, and fat tire aerodynamics became the new way forward.Fusing WorldTour aero knowhow with a new benchmark in tire clearance, this unreleased all-terrain racer was forged in our rolling R&D lab alongside the biggest stars in gravel racing. The bike that won Traka 360 before it was even launched.Already race-provenJust like Ridleys not-so-secret upcoming Kanzo Fast 2.0, Canyons unreleased Grail CFR was also raced at the Traka 360. And it did in fact win, under Canyon//SRAM racer Rosa Klser. But in Frankfurt, it was another racers bike that I got a close-up look at. This is the bike of Juri Hollmann, a Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing athlete who has been using gravel as rehab this season, after suffering major injuries in a Giro dItalia crash last year while World Tour racing for Alpecin-Premier Tech. His setup is a perfect example of the new fat tire aero trends.His bike is built up with a Dura-Ace powermeter crankset with a single 48T 1x chainring, Dura-Ace road SPD-SL pedals, and the same aero post & 1-piece cockpit from his Aeroad road racing bike. But that drivetrain is paired to a wide-range MTB cassette, a set of GRX Di2 shifters (with shift buttons for both left & right hands), and a GRX Di2 1x rear derailleur. Then, he wraps 50mm deep DT Swiss GRC 1100 wheels with 292.1 XC tires.Whats new vs. the current Grail?Without official concrete details, lets dive into what we do know Bigger tires. Canyon has said that combining fat tires and aero development, they tested the bike at real-world speeds of 35 km/h with tires up to 57mm wide. These ultra-wide gravel tires allow higher speeds on technical terrain while reducing rider fatigue through increased comfort. That could give the new Grail CFR the biggest tire clearance weve seen from a full-on gravel race bike. A massive boost from the current CFRs 42mm max!Hollmanns bike had 53mm (29 x 2.1) Schwalbe MTB tires fitted. Klser won Traka 360 on 2.2 (56mm) Conti Dubnitals. The other Grail CFR on display at Canyons Eurobike booth was fitted with more conventional 45mm Schwalbe gravel tires.Improved aerodynamics.This unreleased Grail CFR features all-new (for the Grail family) deep aero shaping that looks almost identical to the new Endurace CFR. The same kinked seattube cutout at the wide-set, dropped seatstays, similar extension of a wider toptube past a narrower headtube, similar transition from the fork crown into the downtube, and almost identical aero fork legs. Plus, the same flared wider downtube to shield and smooth airflow over the downtube water bottle (also much like the 3T RaceMax, too).The new gravel bike, though, seems to get more angular edges, and taller raised stays at the dropout like the Aeroad.Geo stats on the seattube also list a 16mm lower, more aero position than the current Grail. While reach is unchanged: Grail CFR, Size M, Gravel Sport geo, 575mm Stack, 411mm Reach.The new gravel race bike also gets a new, more aero seatpost. The same deep D-shaped aerodynamic post from the Aeroad, then repurposed for the new Endurace. The benefit here, is you can opt for the lighter but stiffer Aeropost from the road bike, or pick the more comfy VCLS Aero version from the all-road bike with its bump-eating front cutout design.More storage.The Grail CFR also reshapes and relocates internal frame storage. The new bike shifts its glovebox opening lower in the frame. Now, it features a locking latch under the main downtube bottle cage. But also out of the way of a partial frame bag. The new bike keeps mounting points to a minimum for dedicated gravel racing: 2 typical cage mounts inside the main triangle, toptube bag mounts, plus 2 bolts in the upper section of the main triangle for a direct-mount partial frame bag just behind the headtube, much like in the previous iteration of the Grail.Canyon Grail CFR Possible options, pricing & availability?Canyon claims complete bike weights from 7.54kg up to 9.18kg for the new Grail. That is a broad enough range to think there probably will be at least a top CFR version and a more affordable CF spec-level frame, too. (Current range goes from 7.54kg for CFR AXS to 9.26kg for CF 7.) Pricing from 6500 though, would reference CFR only. Thats the official price of the CFR Di2 build now with these same DT GRC11100 wheels (8.18kg). While the current CF 7 is 2200, and the CFR AXS sells for 7500.So when is the new Canyon Grail CFR gravel bike going to launch? That we dont know for sure. Gravel World Champs are in Australia this year on the second weekend of October. Which might make for a nice official debut of a new aero gravel race bike, right?Well be keeping our eyes peeled, and ears open for more official details.Canyon.comThe post Canyon Teases Unreleased Grail CFR Aero All-Terrain Gravel Race Bike That Fits 57mm Tires appeared first on Bikerumor.

Olav Kooij has started his pro career at Team Visma | Lease a Bike back in 2021, and had gathered 50 pro wins until the start of his Tour de France. It took him five years as a professional rider to finally make it to the start of his first ever Grand Boucle, and he has won his first sprint in the r...

A custom-painted bike has practically become the norm for riders who win the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. And while they can be dished out in an overly eager manner Mathieu van der Poel was equipped with a special Canyon Aeroad after winning stage 2 last year I doubt few would object to Torstrein Trens new bike.Ridley has set Tren up with a special yellow Noah Fast after the Uno-X rider took the maillot jaune from Tadej Pogaar on stage 4. On a stage tipped for the breakaway, Tren got away in a large bunch and finished close-to 8 minutes up on the Slovenian.What makes Trens yellow jersey particularly remarkable is that the Norwegian was diagnosed with cancer in 2022 after an abnormal doping test revealed indicators of the disease. Tren underwent surgery to remove a tumour and was back to racing within months. Ridley founder Jochim Aerts painted the bike himself. Ridley Tren also started his career with Uno-X back in 2016 and, after a brief stint at Bahrain-Victorious, he returned to the squad in 2023. That was the first year Uno-X Mobility participated in the Tour de France, and this is now the first time they hold the yellow jersey.So to honour the occasion, Ridley got to work and delivered a custom frame for Tren less than 30 hours after he became the leader of the Tour.As soon as Tren took the yellow jersey, a Noah Fast frameset was selected from stock and prepared for painting. After curing, clear coating, decals and final quality control, the frameset was packed for immediate transport.On Wednesday, Team Support & Equipment Coordinator Wesley Widar personally delivered the bike to Biarritz, where it arrived for the Uno-X Mobility mechanics to prepare ahead of the next stage, Ridley said. With a mostly black frame, Tren's Noah is slightly more subtle than other yelllow bikes we've seen at the Tour. Ridley The opportunity to make a special version of Noah Fast aero bike for Tren does come with a plug for Ridley. The company says the quick turnaround highlights its ability to paint and build bikes in-house at its facility in Belgium.CEO Jochim Aerts says: "Ridley is still a 100% family-owned company, and almost everything we do happens here in our Belgian factory. Our in-house paint department allows us to build truly unique bikes for our customers. Moments like this show exactly what makes Ridley different. Seeing the yellow jersey on a Ridley is something special, and we wanted Torstein's bike to reflect that."

Torstein Tren completed his first day in the Tour de France yellow jersey on Wednesday's fifth stage, although it wasn't without incident and tomorrow offers its own challenges too.The peloton tackles its first hors-category mountain on stage six in the form of the Col du Tourmalet, which itself is sandwiched in-between the cat-one Col d'Aspin and the cat-two finishing climb to Gavarnie-Gdre. In theory, his 7:53 lead over Tadej Pogaar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), should enable Tren to hold on to the yellow jersey. But, speaking looking ahead to it on Wednesday evening, he said "Tadej is Tadej" and nothing was guaranteed."We have to see how fast they're going. And of course, Tadej is Tadej, and I think if he goes full gas on the Tourmalet, maybe I will be behind. You don't know how much you will be losing. We've just got to see tomorrow."The high temperatures, which cooled mid-week to a balmy 31deg C (88F) on stage five, are due to pick up again, which made things even less predictable, he said."We haven't had a lot of real mountain climbing yet," he added. "So we don't know what will happen, and then with this heat everything can happen, so you just have to hope and do your best."The 30-year-old, who is a former Tour de Suisse stage winner and wore the leader's jersey at the Vuelta a Espaa last year, came off his bike at one point on stage five in an incident he said he didn't know much about. "Suddenly I was on the ground," he said, adding that he was quickly paced back to the bunch and suffered "only a small cut on my knee".How did he enjoy his first ever day in yellow, he was asked. "Yeah, quite nice," came the understated reply. "All the boys said I looked really well, really well. So, yeah, it was nice to have compliments from the boys."When you get cancer, you don't know what will happen," he added, referencing his 2022 testicular cancer diagnosis (which was successfully treated), "and I'm obviously quite happy to be back at a good level and leading the biggest race of the world."

The Tour de France is often shaped as much by survival as by strength. Across three weeks of racing from the Grand Dpart in Barcelona on 4 July to the final stage in Paris on 26 July, crashes, illness, heat, fatigue and withdrawals can quickly reshape the peloton, from nervous sprint stages and exp...

A firewoman, perched on the back of a slow-moving float, hoses a cloud of mist over the fans at the roadside. Merci! they call back. Most return a grin and a thumbs-up, too. Under the baking sun in Carcassonne, as the riders arrive to sign on for stage four of the Tour de France, even a second of coolness feels like bliss. The float then trundles on, and the heat feels inescapable again. It blazes from above, rises up from the tarmac, and sears with each gust of wind, like a blast from a hairdryer. Visma-Lease a Bikes bus is nowhere to be seen its air conditioning unit has broken, and the driver has had to make an emergency trip to the garage. Their riders turn up to the start on their bikes, some in ice vests. It's a hopeful bid to fend off one of the harshest heatwaves France has ever felt. According to ProCyclingStats, Tuesdays stage was the hottest at the race since the websites records began in 2007: an average of 36.5C for more than four hours. At its worst, the temperature soared to 45C, so read the data on EF Education-EasyPost rider Alex Baudins GPS computer. Of course, hot weather on the Tour is expected riders prepare for it all year round but these numbers are extraordinary. And theyre set to continue. Its hot. Its definitely hot, Ineos Grenadiers Josh Tarling tells Cycling Weekly. The 22-year-old finished fourth from last on stage four, riding with a cracked rib suffered in a crash at last months Tour Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes. It hurts when I breathe anyway, he says. With the heat as well, obviously youre breathing harder and the pains catching up. It just feels airless. The fire brigade is on hand at the race to cool down fans. (Image credit: Getty Images)France has been suffering from the heat for around three weeks now. Public health officials announced there were more than 2,000 additional deaths in the country in June due to the soaring temperatures and even that, they added, was an underestimate. Its against this backdrop that, on the eve of the Grand Dpart in Barcelona in Spain, Frances interior minister gave local authorities the power to modify and even cancel stages in the event of extreme heat. If such a scenario were to happen, it would be a first in the races 112-year history. But with record temperatures, come serious measures. The effects of climate change have become an undeniable reality. Beyond stage threes finish line in Les Angles where fans were refused entry due to wildfires nearby Tom Pidcock gasped to regain his breath. I dont think Ive done such a hard race in such heat before; it was ridiculous, he told the TV cameras. It was like a war zone. I think we went through about 10,000 bidons today as a peloton. Drinking fluids is one of few ways riders can ward off heatstroke while exposed on the road. They wear ice vests before the stages, too, rely on stockings stuffed with ice cubes during it, and drink slush to try and lower their body temperatures from within. Outside his team bus at stage four's finish in Foix, Soudal Quick-Steps Jasper Stuyven bit into a fruit pastille lolly as if it were a chicken drumstick and he hadn't eaten in three days.Other cooling strategies are more sophisticated; Alpecin-Premier Techs riders took it in turns to visit ice baths inside a blacked out van behind their team bus after stage five in Pau. Similarly, UAE have been sleeping each night in smart mattress cover systems, which measure the riders core temperatures and cool the bed accordingly. And yet, Tadej Pogaar still complained of a full headache from the heat at the start of stage four. Jan Tratnik carries bottles for his Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team-mates. (Image credit: Getty Images)Lewis Askey, one of NSN Pro Cyclings key leadout men for Biniam Girmay, is one of those that tends to struggle in high temperatures. Im a lot better now than when I was younger, but Ive had really, really bad days in the heat in the past. Its like my body switches off a little bit, he tells Cycling Weekly.To help riders mitigate the heat, the UCI has allowed extra bottle hand-outs at the race. How many is Askey taking on during the stages? It depends if youre counting actually drank or chucked over my head, he says. Id probably say two or three an hour, and then a couple [over my head] every hour or so, and ice socks. Other riders, like Decathlon CMA CGMs Matthew Riccitello, are more used to the conditions. Standing unsheltered in 36C heat at the start of stage five in Lannemezan, he waves off his team press officer when offered an ice vest. Its not fun for anybody to ride in this heat, he says, but the American's from Tucson, Arizona, where its not abnormal to see temperatures tick into the forties. So far, Ive coped with it quite well, Riccitello says. I think just being from somewhere that is quite hot, I maybe adapt better. I dont know. Theres only so much you can do. And there, in that last sentence, lies the crux of the issue: the Tour de France is powerless to Mother Nature. If temperatures continue to rise, as climate experts forecast they will, the race could become less a show of sporting brilliance, and more a test of whoever melts the slowest. Lets just hope there are enough fire brigade floats to cool everyone down.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike have had three major tests in the battle for the overall classification over the Catalan Grand Depart, and they have ended them with Jonas Vingegaard tied on time with Tadej Pogacar. That situation could've changed and turned to the Slovenian's side this Wednesday afternoon...