Spotted: Decathlon AG2R sprinters riding new Van Rysel aero bike at the Tour de France

Van Rysel has been one of the most talked about cycling brands in 2024, as it's jumped in at the deep end with the RCR Pro and taken multiple World Tour victories under the AG2R Decathlon team. However, the bike that Sam Bennett has just been spotted riding is not the RCR Pro... could this be a new pure aero road bike from the Flemish brand?

Admittedly we don't have great pictures yet but one thing is clear, this is not the RCR Pro. Given that it's the team's sprinters aboard the new bike, we can only assume that it's a new aero steed.

> The story behind the RCR Pro

Both Sam Bennett and Oliver Naesen can be seen using the unreleased bike in pictures shared on the official Decathlon AG2R Instagram account ahead of the Grand Depart.

With stage 1 of the 2024 Tour de France being dubbed as one for the sprinters, we wouldn't mind betting that the bike will be used in earnest right from the very start.

Is this a replacement for the RCR Pro? We doubt it, because the RCR was only released at the start of the year and was first spotted around this time last year. Instead, we reckon that this is a fully-fledged 'pure' aero bike as Van Rysel expands its road racing range.

That's a rarity these days. To give some examples, Specialized, Trek, Colnago and plenty of others have opted for a one-bike-to-do-it-all approach. Clearly, Van Rysel think they can find some extra watts from a fully aero bike.

As we mentioned earlier, pictures are sparse at the moment (we'll probably get a much better look tomorrow) but for now we can say that it appears to feature a similar integrated Deda cockpit and has dropped seatstays just like the RCR, but has a slimmer central portion of the headtube.

The headtube also appears to be deeper, following other new bikes such as the Pinarello Dogma F and Canyon Aeroad. 

Sam Bennett also appears to be using different tyres to the rest of the team (these are not Continental GP5000S TRs), so could this also be for aero reasons?

Lots of teams like to use their latest and greatest tech at the Tour de France as they try to search for every advantage; unfortunately, this doesn't mean that it will release imminently, as the UCI stipulates that equipment must be on sale within 12 months of being raced. Well, this is its first sighting, get the timer started!

In the meantime, here's how the RCR was created...

We'll update you when we know more but let us know in the comments below if you're glad that Van Rysel is fighting the corner of the aero bike?