MATHIEU VAN DER POEL CHOOSES WILD AEROAD CFR BIKE FOR TIRRENO-ADRIATICO

Custom-painted MyCanyon bike for van der Poel from world-renowned Italian artist Elena Salmistraro

Embargoed until 17:30 CET, Monday 10th February 2025: From stage 2 of this week's Tirreno-Adriatico, the men's World Tour stage race between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts, Alpecin-Deceuninck's Mathieu van der Poel will debut a very unique bike.

From the MyCanyon customisation programme, launched by Canyon in February, comes a design by world-renowned artist Elena Salmistraro.

Salmistraro, who lives and works in Milan, is one of the two artists initially commissioned to design artwork for Canyon's bike customisation programme.

Riffing on the themes of colour and energy, Salmistraro's stunning design incorporates bright, bold fingerprints of colour in a colour kaleidoscopic palette, making for a "perfect combination of modernity and fun, ideal for attracting attention,” which could be the reason it was chosen by van der Poel for Tirreno-Adriatico this week.

Tirreno-Adriatico started with a time trial on Monday 10th March, during which van der Poel raced his Canyon Speedmax TT bike. But with 6 road race stages coming before the finish on Sunday, van der Poel will be exclusively riding Salmistraro's design - as this image shows, the team even have several spare Salmistraro bikes to cover all eventualities.

The frame itself comes from the brand's Canyon Factory Racing (CFR) marque, the elite arm of its frame development programme, designed for one main thing: winning bike races.

Canyon's Aeroad CFR lives up to that objective with aplomb. The frame has wind tunnel numbers to prove it's one of the very fastest bikes in the pro peloton - and with a benchmark stiffness-to-weight ratio, a lightweight 960g frame (size M), and a cutting-edge carbon layup, van der Poel's CFR frame more than meets the demands of World Tour level racing.

But when it's combined with Shimano's Dura-Ace groupset and wheels, and Canyon's finishing kit, it's a true world-beater, as van der Poel proved most recently at Belgium's Le Semyn cobbled classic.

For more on van der Poel's bike choice for Tirreno-Adriatico, check out the full image pack - free for you to use when crediting Stefan Rachow / Mr. Pinko.