Introduced just before the start of cyclocross season this fall, Canyon’s new carbon Inflite CF SLX has found its way under some of the top cyclocrossers in the world rather quickly. It wasn’t much of a surprise to see ex elite women’s World Champ Pauline Ferrand-Prévot racing the new bike as she crosses over into road and mountain on her Canyon//SRAM pro team. But ex men’s elite World Champ Mathieu van der Poel was more of a surprise as Canyon took over bike sponsorship from Stevens for his Corendon-Circus team from the start of January.
Canyon Inflite CF SLX cyclocross bike of van der Poel
Mathieu van der Poel has been dominating the World Cup series this season, and seems to have made a smooth shift from the Super Prestige that he rode since his pro debut to this new carbon Inflite.
It seems the impetus of the move somewhat comes from van der Poel’s crossover plans to the cross-country mountain bike, targeting the XCO race at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Van der Poel has raced a number of custom finished bikes in the past, but for now is riding a standard Inflite CF SLX in team-issued red & black with its distinctive bent toptube in front of the seat cluster, and simple rider name & bike number decals. With the bike switch, the team continues on mostly the same bike builds, racing new Shimano Dura-Ace 2×11 Di2 drivetrain, hydraulic disc brakes, and wheels, wrapped in FMB tubulars.
Now Canyon takes over the cockpit with an integrated bar/stem combo and seatposts topped with Selle Italia saddles. Much like Frenchwoman Ferrand-Prévot, he will be able to take advantage of Canyon’s top-level XC race bike fleet as well, together with his Belgian Corendon-Circus team.
The 22-year-old 2x Junior CX World Champ and Elite World Champ from 2015 is also the current Elite CX European champ.
Canyon Inflite CF SLX cyclocross bike of Ferrand-Prévot
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot – having been the only rider to ever hold the World Champ title on the road, cross & cross-country at the same time – got an earlier start on the new carbon Inflite CF SLX from the start of this cyclocross season.
Building back into her race form after taking last season off from cross, Ferrand-Prévot has already earned a couple of top 5 finishes on the World Cup with the new bike. While she was one of a few Canyon rider who started the season on the stock yellow & black bikes that consumers can get straight from Canyon, she’s since moved on to a fleet of Canyon//SRAM team edition bikes.
Ferrand-Prévot’s builds reflect her road team’s sponsors, and carry over SRAM RED eTap hydraulic disc brake builds. Canyon also handles cockpit setup with Ergon saddles, while Zipp delivers wheels that the team glues up with Dugast tubulars.
