Cyclist
Pro bike: Jasper Philipsen’s unreleased Canyon Aeroad
Jasper Philipsen has proved that he is the fastest man on the road in recent seasons. The Belgian known as the Vlam van Ham has claimed seven stage wins over the past three Tours de France, and took home the green points jersey in 2023. At the time of writing, he has just taken his first win of the 2024 Tour by claiming victory on Stage 10.
Ahead of this year’s Tour in Florence, Philipsen told the press that he is ‘expecting to be sprinting faster during the Tour de France’. With the support of rainbow jersey-wearing teammate Mathieu van der Poel, he said ‘we can adapt to any situation to have maximal strength in a sprint stage’.
One element adding strength to Philipsen’s bullish claim will be his brand new bike. At the 2024 Tour de France, Jasper is riding Canyon’s new, still unreleased Aeroad with a custom chrome paint job, different to the navy blue of his teammates.
While we’re still waiting for official details of the new Canyon aero bike, we got up close with Philipsen’s in Florence to get an early look.
Jasper Philipsen’s Canyon Aeroad
Ahead of the Tour de France, Alpecin-Deceuninck had been spotted using a revised model of the Canyon Aeroad CFR. Details of the latest Aeroad are being tightly guarded at the moment, but our investigator eyes several changes.
Philipsen’s new bike seems to have new integrated handlebars, which have a negative slope that has been increased on the Belgian’s new cockpit, probably in the pursuit of extra aero gains and/or a more aggressive riding position. He’s using Canyon’s 3D printed computer mount.
Alpecin-Deceuninck are sponsored by Shimano, so have both Dura-Ace Di2 groupsets and Dura-Ace C50 wheels. The day before the Tour started in Florence, Philipsen had a 54/40t crankset fitted.
The wheels are fitted with Vittoria’s 28mm Corsa Pro tyres, the same used by Mark Cavendish on his new Wilier Filante SLR.
One observation on the frame: the right side of the thru-axles are covered by the fork ends. The reason for this is yet to be revealed, but this is a huge plus for the bike’s aesthetics. It also looks as though the forks do not taper on the new Aeroad. Upon inspection, the head tube and forks look bulkier than on the previous Aeroad.
The deep seat tube has become characteristic of the Aeroad models through the years. That said, the seat tube and, notably, the seatpost have been slimmed in width from the previous Aeroad CFR.
Alpecin’s team mechanics disclosed to Cyclist that Philipsen rides a saddle height of 77.4cm. The Belgian’s bar width clocks in at 37cm and 39cm in the drops showing the flare provided on the new bars. Philipsen uses a 120mm stem, 10mm less than his sprinting rival Mark Cavendish.
Stay tuned to Cyclist for more news on the Canyon Aeroad when it is released.
We will share more bikes from the 2024 Tour de France throughout the race. We will also be sharing videos of the bikes on our Instagram @cyclist_mag.
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