Van der Poel gets special equipment for Paris-Roubaix: "Equipped with features Mathieu requested directly"

Mathieu van der Poel will line up at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday with a special version of his Canyon bike. The two-time winner of the Hell of the North will be riding a unique edition of the Canyon Aeroad CFR Tensor, which features artwork highlighting where the impact of the cobblestones hits the frame.

Canyon engineers treat Paris-Roubaix as the ultimate testing ground and attend the race every year to examine the frames before and after the event. “Roubaix is the ultimate test environment for a bike,” says engineer Lukas Birr. “Smooth asphalt doesn’t put much strain on a bike, but the cobbles create a lot of stress. Each shock travels through the frame one by one, which can cause components to loosen over the course of the race.”

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Canyon wants to make the Paris-Roubaix bike aerodynamic, lightweight, and strong

The wet autumn edition of Paris-Roubaix in 2021—where Van der Poel finished third behind Sonny Colbrelli and Florian Vermeersch—led to the development of a new front fork for the Aeroad CFR model. That punishing race pushed all the equipment to its limits, prompting Canyon to design a new fork with a sealed headset and a saddle featuring titanium bearings.

In 2025, Van der Poel will race on the Aeroad CFR Tensor. The name “Tensor” comes from a simulation test Canyon used to measure the pressure that cobblestones exert on the frame. Dark-colored areas on the frame highlight those high-stress zones, while still preserving the bike’s aerodynamic profile. “We want it to be aerodynamic, but also as lightweight as possible. That way, it’s still strong and robust enough to handle racing over the cobbles of Roubaix.”

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Aeroad CFR will remain the flagship for Canyon, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Van der Poel

Engineer Lukas Birr hopes that Alpecin-Deceuninck can once again deliver a strong result with the model on Sunday, after finishing first and second in each of the past two editions with Van der Poel and Philipsen. “CFR, to me, stands for the mindset of developing the best possible product that allows pros to win races. To achieve that, we must never be satisfied and must always see room for improvement. It’s about developing additional test rigs, riding the cobbles ourselves, riding the bike ourselves, and getting our hands dirty along the way.”

Read also

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Van Hooydonck does not consider van der Poel, van Aert or Pogacar to be favorites for Roubaix: “He's a truck on cobblestones"

Tom Boonen on Van der Poel Roubaix rumor: "I've seen that happen 15 times and no one ever gained an advantage"

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