French sensation, Paul Seixas, looks set to have a new lightweight aero bike for the Tour de France after what appears to be a redesigned Van Rysel RCR-Pro was spotted at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
The week-long French stage race (formerly the Criterium du Dauphine) has a new name and has played host to a selection of new bikes after Cube teased a new aero prototype.
Van Rysel, meanwhile, looks intent on building on the success of its hugely popular RCR bike, which featured aero optimised tube shapes in a lightweight design. It helps that the bike rode brilliantly and is, by pro bike standards, relatively well priced.
The new bike, however, may claw back some of the attention that has since been lost to the brand’s aero RCR-F. Van Rysel has seemingly married a deep aero front end with much slimmer tube set at the rear, creating a machine that looks set to challenge Specialized’s Tarmac as the leading lightweight and aero all rounder bike.
The front end is where most of the easy to spot changes have taken place. The head tube is very similar to the RCR-F’s, with material being added to the rear edge.
Combine this with a deep shroud which sits behind the stem, and the front end is notably aggressive. In fact, comparing the bike to the RCR-F, it appears that the bike simply uses the existing carbon Deda bar.
Cast your eye down the fork and it appears that carrot taper jeans are back in fashion. Van Rysel has given this a very defined taper down to the front axle, which I suspect is to combine the need for leading edge aerodynamic optimisation, with the low weight that this bike will need for it to be useful in the mountains.
The down tube is also heavily sculpted, remaining narrow behind the fork crown before ballooning out to shield the front bottle.
Meanwhile at the rear end is where you will find the majority of the weight saving. This features a redesigned seat tube, which flows nicely out of the bottom bracket. A pronounced change of direction takes it away from the rear wheel just before the seat stays join.
The changes to this bike are numerous, though it begs the question as to how close the all rounder will get to the RCR-F in terms of speed. With such investment in equipment, it will also be very interesting to see how Van Rysel prices this new bike.
Should the price remain relatively sensible, it is possible for the new RCR-Pro to be an incredibly popular alternative to the Specialized Tarmac.
