Check out the unreleased Canyon Aeroad Mathieu van der Poel rode to Paris-Roubaix victory

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won the 120th edition of Paris-Roubaix on Sunday in the fastest time ever after John Degenkolb crashed and Wout van Aert punctured on the Carrefour de l’Arbre sector of cobbles, and here’s the Canyon Aeroad he rode to victory.

It’s interesting that Van der Poel was riding an aero road bike rather than an endurance bike with special features designed to filter out vibration from the road surface. Similarly, Dylan van Baarle rode a Pinarello Dogma F to victory last year and Sonny Colbrelli was on a Merida Reacto Team-E the year before.

Bikes designed with damping features have been ridden to greater success in Paris-Roubaix Femmes with Lizzie Deignan and Elisa Longo Borghini having previously won on Trek Domanes with the brand’s IsoSpeed technology, although Alison Jackson triumphed on Cannondale’s recently updated SuperSix Evo at the weekend.

> Cannondale launches new aero-optimised SuperSix Evo 4 with threaded bottom bracket — all the details + first ride review 

Look closely and you’ll see that Van de Poel’s Canyon Aeroad is not the version that’s currently available to buy.

Pic © Zac Williams-SWpix.com

Canyon confirmed that a bike Van der Poel was seen riding in the off-season was a prototype and “something we are working on”, but didn’t give any further information when WielerFlits asked towards the end of last year. 

Is Mathieu van der Poel riding a secret new Canyon Aeroad?

Van der Poel has been riding the same bike through the early part of the season, including for his Milan-San Remo win, but painted up in team colours rather than black.

> Milan-San Remo 2023: Van der Poel pummels the Poggio to win first Monument of the season 

Pic © Zac Williams-SWpix.com

Check out the junction between the top tube and the seat tube on Van der Poel’s new bike. There’s a sloping section of frame on the inside of the junction whereas the angle is more distinct on the current retail model.

Pic © Zac Williams-SWpix.com

Plenty of other brands take a similar approach. It reminds us a lot of the Wilier Filante SLR in this area, for example, as well as Canyon’s recently updated Ultimate and the previous incarnation of the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX (as well as a bunch of other bikes).

The change reflects a new position for the seat post wedge bolt, Canyon having moved it to the front side of the seat post. Canyon says that there is a minor adjustment to the frame to fit this.

Pic © Alex Whitehead-SWpix.com

Canyon is revealing nothing else.

“We aren’t ready to share further details about this prototype, but we can say that the real-world race feedback we receive from Mathieu will help us to continue providing innovative new solutions for athletes and amateur racers alike,” it says.

> The all-new Canyon Ultimate is here and it could save you 10 watts 

Canyon officially revealed the current version of the Aeroad road bike in October 2020. The introduction of a new version three years later wouldn’t be unusual.

Pic © Zac Williams-SWpix.com

The existing model has had something of a chequered history, early customers complaining of excessive wear at the point where the seat post met the seat tube. Then in March 2021, the aero cockpit snapped under Mathieu van der Poel while racing Le Samyn and Canyon issued a ‘stop ride’ notice to owners of the 2021 Aeroad models that featured the CP15 and CP18 cockpits.

These issues were resolved and the bike has since been ridden to loads of big wins, but you couldn’t blame Canyon if it wanted to move on with a new model as quickly as possible.

Is that what we're seeing here, though, or is it just a slight re-jig of the existing design? We're just not certain yet. There's certainly no new Canyon on the UCI's List of Approved Models of Frames and Forks.

> Check out our review of the Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 8 Di2 2023 

Pic © Alex Whitehead-SWpix.com

Van der Poel’s Canyon Aeroad is built up with a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset – including the crank-based power meter – and Dura-Ace C50 wheels that are designed to provide “the perfect blend of low weight and aerodynamic performance”.

Pic © Alex Whitehead-SWpix.com

As the name suggests, the full-carbon rims are 50mm deep. They have a 21mm internal width and a 28mm external width.

The wheels are fitted with yet-to-be-released tanwall Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres.

> Best road bike tyres 2023 — ride faster and further with fewer punctures 

Pic © Zac Williams-SWpix.com

We don’t know much about these tyres although we’ve seen them being used throughout the spring by the likes of Wout Van Aert so you can be sure that they’re the new top-of-the-range option.

Judging by the valves, the Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres are tubeless and will presumably be intended as a direct rival to the Continental Grand Prix 5000 TL. We’ll doubtless be hearing all about them before long.

Click here for loads more Bikes at Bedtime.