The sunshine was starting to weaken on Sunday afternoon when the Belgian fast-man finally rolled into the post-race interview zone to speak to the media. During this time, I spent a few minutes taking a look at his bike before he was whisked away again.
Philipsen raced to the win on his team issue Canyon Aeroad CFR, widely considered to be one of the best road bikes. Canyon has sponsored Alpecin-Deceunick for several years now.
It’s a fairly stock setup, but there are a few interesting details to be observed. Philipsen, like his teammates, rides the Aeroad CFR with a Dura-Ace groupset, Dura-Ace C50 wheels and Canyon finishing kit. The team switched from Vittoria tyres during the winter to Pirelli P Zero TLR RS tubeless models, and Philipsen won on 30mm tyres at Kuurne.
The bike was covered in race splatter and was UCI security tagged post-race, but had a ‘2’ sticker next to the Philipsen top tube name sticker. Did the Belgian win on his number-two race bike?
Philipsen’s Aeroad was racked with second and third place finishers Olaf Kooij and Hugo Hofstetter’s machines (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Worn bar tape at the shifter for Philipsen, perhaps he likes the worn-in feel or preferred not to have it changed pre-race (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
A detailed fuelling plan for the Belgian, 45 grams of carbs per hour for the bottles (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
The Canyon Aeroad handlebar is width adjustable (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Philipsen has the more aggressive Canyon ‘Pro’ CP0049 stem that is 120mm long (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Philipsen raced with the Canyon Thru Axle levers installed front and rear, perhaps to save time if a wheel needed to be removed (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Dura-Ace C50 wheels have won an awful lot of races (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Spot the monster bottom bracket shell on the Canyon Aeroad CFR (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Does this ‘2’ mean this is the no.2 race bike? (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
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