Canyon Bicycles has decided pro cyclists it supplies bikes to will not race on some of its bikes after the incident at Le Samyn that saw the drop section of Mathieu van der Poel’s handlebars breaking off.
The Dutch champion was off the front for much of the race
and when his breakaway was caught he worked on the front of the group to set up
Alpecin-Fenix team mate Tim Merlier, who went on to win in a sprint.
However, it was clear from the TV coverage and photographs after the race that the drop section on the right side of Van der Poel's bars had broken off his Canyon Aeroad bike during the closing stages of the race.
And now Canyon has issued a ‘stop ride’ notice, relating to
some of its Canyon Aeroad bikes, and said the pro teams it sponsors would
switch to other bikes in its range as it continues to investigate what
happened.
Advertisement
Canyon’s sponsored riders will be using the previous model of Aeroad or the current Ultimate.
The new Aeroad comes with an adjustable handlebar, which effectively means the bars come in sections allowing for the width of the bars to be adjusted.
However, the fact the bars are bolted together in
sections is not believed to have caused Van der Poel’s broken drop as his bars
did not break at the adjustable section or close to it.
Related News
Canyon has released a statement saying: “On Tuesday March
2nd, at one of the opening classics races ‘Le Samyn’, a part of the handlebar
of our Alpecin-Fenix pro Mathieu van der Poel quite obviously broke off during
the race.
“Experts from the Canyon development and quality
management departments immediately began analysis and testing to understand the
cause of this incident.
“The affected cockpits (CP0018 and CP0015) are only installed on the current Aeroad models CF SLX and CFR. The Aeroad CF SL model is not in any way affected by this issue.”
Roman Arnold, founder of Canyon Bicycles added:
“Mathieu fortunately did not fall. We want to ensure with absolute certainty
that no one comes to harm before we fully understand the root cause.”
Canyon chief executive, Armin Landgraf, added the company
was moving quickly to establish exactly what happened.
“We are doing everything we can to equip affected Aeroad
models as quickly as possible with a cockpit that meets both our and our
customers’ demands for total quality and safety.”
The company added: “It has been decided that all pro
teams will switch to alternative bikes with immediate effect. Until further
notice, all pro athletes that Canyon sponsors will be using the previous model
of Aeroad or the current Ultimate.”
Topics
