UCI Gravel World Championships tech gallery - Abbeyfeale Golf Club Abbeyfeale UCI Gravel World Championships tech gallery Facebook Twitter WhatsApp Telegram This weekend saw the first ever UCI Gravel World Championships descend upon Veneto, Italy as Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Gianni Vermeersch took the discipline’s first rainbow jerseys. It has been a controversial introduction to the calendar with worries about how the UCI will impact the gravel scene and complaints about the difficulty of the course – or lack of it. Whatever your opinion, two things it provided for certain were incredible images and interesting bike setups. Thankfully photographer James York was in Italy to get behind the scenes at the historic event and got the all important shots of the gravelled road bikes and improved tech on display. Gianni Vermeersch’ s Gravel Canyon Ultimate CFR It’s official, the Canyon Ultimate is actually an all-road bike. Gianni Vermeersch and his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel were riding the new Canyon Ultimate CFR fitted with gravel bike tires. Who needs a Grizl? Who needs GRX? Despite Canyon’s marketing saying the Ultimate’s recommended clearance was up to 32mm, Vermeersch was running 33mm at the front and 35mm at the rear. He probably wouldn’t have gotten away with it on a muddy course given the tight fit, but dust was the only dirt on display this weekend. There might even be more space at the back. Does the number on the front take away the aero gains from the handlebars? Probably. Add on a watt or two for the cable ties. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’ s BMC Kaius That’s right, the women’s race was won on a gravel bike. The industry is saved, panic over everyone. Ferrand-Prévot would probably have won on a wheely bin but her BMC Kaius, launched just last month, was made for gravel racing. You won’t find road gears here – just look at that cassette. What you will find is Sidi aero shoe covers, which must have made all the difference. The best tech Sarah Sturm’s Specialized S-Works Crux had the best design on display, big fan. Her Rapha kit is also excellent but went unseen this weekend due to national team kits. Here’s the front-end view. I’d buy it. Big shoutout to British rider Annabel Fisher, winner of this year’s The Rift gravel race in Iceland, for riding a Lauf Seigla and bagging a place in the tech gallery rather than the race one. The Trek Checkpoint was launched earlier this year. This is the SLR 9, which we got gravel racer Ben Delaney to review. He liked it a lot. A lesser-spotted Cipollini Ago made it to the biggest stage featuring a nice color scheme and raw carbon finish although the hint of what tire pressures were being run might be the most interesting thing here. Disappointing it’s not a gravel roller, though. Insert joke about The Italian Job. Strong effort. Had to include my favorite cycling shoes, the Quoc Gran Tourer II, spotted at the women’s race. Despite his earlier effortsJames is getting paid for these pictures in money, not shoes. It wasn’t all road groupsets, SRAM Eagle made an appearance for a true off-road flavor. The gold is incredibly cool. The colors here are cooler though. Barely dirty. Enthusiasts will tell you Wahoo Speedplay pedals are a bad idea off-road. That’s how clean the surface was. Men’s silver medalist Daniel Oss also decided against a gravel bike and was riding the Specialized S-Works Roubaix, a more fitting road bike for the occasion in all fairness. Gravel bikes were present, I promise. This is the Scott Addict Gravel being taken for a pre-race spin. The improvisation There was a lot of tape rolled out, Davide Ballerini decked his Specialized S-Works Diverge with masking tape to strap on emergency sealant. This was a far cleaner storage solution. This rider opted for electrical tape by the looks of things, and stuck a tubeless tire plug kit – the Dynaplug Carbon Racer – on the stem. Emergency sealant and CO2 canister featuring gaffer tape this time Heavy duty Finally nutrition Van der Poel opted for his Vittoria Pit Stop supply on his down tube At what point is a bag going to be deployed Wait for the ‘ high-performance super lightweight and ultra aero’ top tube bag at next year’ s race Insert that Oliver Twist quote It’ s never-ending They could share That would be in the Spirit of Gravel A BAG Thank you Hayley Simmonds you are a hero For more gravel content visit our hub page All photos James York h3 Related Facebook Twitter WhatsApp Telegram Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Advertisement Recent Posts 5 seconds ago UCI Gravel World Championships tech gallery 1 min ago Kanaan represents American Legion well at Ironman championship 2 mins ago Emmerdale legend claims soap bosses are ‘ killing me slowly’ with major stunts 3 mins ago Fatal pedestrian crash in the Central Division 4 mins ago Cayuga Lake Is a Great Girlfriends’ Getaway Back to top button Abbeyfeale Golf Club