As the 2024 WorldTour road season starts to wind down and the blue touchpaper of the cyclocross season ignites, the autumn always feels like something of an inflection point.
Of the WorldTour riders, excluding the few that fancy themselves a tilt at Il Lombardia next week, most are on the steady decline into the off-season, if they're not already there. And those on the nocturnal 'cross calendar are on the ascendency, no doubt in their final training block as racing gets underway, with the first of the Exact Cross series also coming next week.
Sandwiched almost perfectly between the two opposing seasons is a race that bridges the disciplines, the UCI Gravel World Championships.
How ironic, or perhaps inevitable, it was then that the men's and women's elite races were won by two riders that have dominated both sides of drop-bar cycling? With six cyclocross world titles each, as well as a list of road race titles that cement them both among the greatest riders of all time, Mathieu van der Poel and Marianne Vos took home the men's and women's titles respectively.
But putting the impressive racing from both of the Dutch superstars aside for a moment - my race team colleagues have covered that in great detail already - the streets of Leuven, Belgium were also bustling with an array of new and interesting tech.
For example, before the racing had even begun, Vos had made headlines with her Cervelo Caledonia race bike. Our eagle-eyed Editor, Peter Stuart, spotted an unusual hub laced into her wheels, which turned out to be an automatic tyre inflation system from Dutch company, Gravaa, the same company that paired with Visma Lease-a-Bike at the 2023 Paris Roubaix.
Elsewhere, an interesting new Lapierre - complete with front suspension and floating seatstays - was spotted against an FDJ-Suez team car, while in Sunday's men's race, Matej Mohorič was spotted using a dropper seatpost.
Not too dissimilar to our Unbound tech gallery, albeit with some added restrictions thanks to the UCI's governance, we also spotted interesting paint, clever puncture protection hacks, new tyres and more, so sit back and enjoy as we bring you a premium gallery packed with everything that we saw.
Undoubtedly the biggest tech talking point of the weekend in Leuven was the return of the Gravaa self-inflating tyre pressure system that was first unveiled at Paris-Roubaix 2023.
Vos paired the system with Dugast Typhoon 33mm tubeless cyclocross tyres to help her take the rainbow jersey in a third discipline. Reports suggest that Kopecky heard the system engaging throughout the race, and Vos perhaps even used it to recover from a puncture. A sign of things to come?
The system was also paired with gravel tyres by some of Vos' trade teammates.
However, other riders from the Visma-Lease a Bike setup opted against the innovative tech and went for a tried and tested method.
Cans of tyre repair sealant were a common sight across the bunch. The Italian team all had a Vittoria Pit Stop can strapped to their bikes.
Maybe it's in keeping with the Spirit of Gravel, but sealant strapped onto Silvia Persico's custom Colnago G3X with cheap masking tape really bugs us.
In typical Colnago fashion, the details on this bike, like the design on the top tube storage cover, really set it apart.
The shimmering aqua paint job on the Italian's steed was something to behold. It wasn't our favourite bike from the women's race, though.
Rwanda's Xav Nirere took that prize with a custom Factor Ostro Gravel that gets better the longer you stop and stare at it.
Factor have outdone themselves here with a design that fades from white to green, with dark green leopard print subtly covering the frame.
A splash of fluorescent yellow to the forks and chain stays makes the bike even more vibrant.
From eye-popping paint jobs to eye-catching unreleased steeds. Cyclingnews' editor, Peter, spotted this Lapierre gravel bike in the pits on Saturday ahead of the women's race.
It's likely that this bike will add to the French brand's Pulsium ALLROAD - which is currently their only gravel-specific frame.
Floating seatstays were one of the key new features, alongside front suspension for those heftier gravel tracks.
We also noticed a RockShox Reverb AXS XPLR dropper post fitted to the bike.
The splayed handlebars allow for an aggressive riding position which, alongside the suspension enhancements, suggests to us that this will be a bike made for those hardcore off-road challenges.
From one gravel racing machine to another, Road World Champion Lotte Kopecky took to the dirt tracks and paths of Leuven with possibly one of the lightest bikes in the pack.
Kopecky's Specialized S-Works Crux looked brand new, with the Belgian rider running a 48/35T 12-speed SRAM Red groupset for the race.
The Belgian went for the light touch approach to repair kits, opting just for one CO2 inflator.
Her Crux also had an unbranded, sponsor-incorrect saddle fitted, as is fairly common among the women’s peloton. We believe this is a Syncros saddle.
The cockpit is the Roval Rapide Cockpit, designed for the road, but clearly capable enough for gravel.
Meanwhile, Mathieu van der Poel rode the gravel-specific Canyon Grail CFR to victory on Sunday.
We love this detail of the bike's exact measurements. The Dutchman was riding on a stack height of 590mm, with his bike's reach being 411mm.
MVDP's Grail CFR is also fitted with Shimano's Dura-Ace r9270 Di2 instead of the brand's GRX groupset. Intriguingly, the Dutchman has unbranded rims fitted - could they be an unreleased offering from Shimano or perhaps from a competitor?
The Dutchman remained loyal to his regular Selle Italia Flite Boost Kit Carbonio Superflow saddle over the brand's gravel-specific options.
This Ridley Grifn was size XS and also featured an aggressive fit.
A Deda Zero100 stem and handlebar of the same brand were used to produce this attacking angle.
Speaking of aggressive approaches to gravel racing, these five-spoke Xentis High X wheels are right up there too!
Alpecin-Deceuninck sports physio Tess Rindler-Bachl represented Austria in the women's elite race on the eye-catching Canyon.
The Xentis wheelset retails for €1,629 and weighs in at 1100g for the pair.
Just because gravel bikes get a bit dusty, it doesn't mean that there's no place for some bling. Tessa Neefjes had carbon-spoked Cadex wheels and a CeramicSpeed cage that both featured accents of gold.
Meanwhile sixth-place finisher Connor Swift rode Pinarello's all-road offering of the Dogma X.
One of the bike's key USPs is the XStays designed to absorb the vibrations of the rugged gravel terrain while ensuring the right amount of stiffness too.
Swift described the X as very similar to its road sibling, the F. His frame for Gravel Worlds was fitted with a MOST Talon Ultra Light integrated handlebar.
While Swift's bike was identical in paint job to his trade team's road bike, Lucinda Brand was treated to a fresh lick of paint on her Trek Domane.
Fellow Lidl-Trek rider Shirin van Anrooij opted for the new Trek Checkmate though - the latest version of the brand's all-out gravel racing model.
The Dutch rider was using a SRAM Red AXS 1x setup with a K-Edge Braze-On chain catcher.
Meanwhile, Heidi Franz was riding a custom Factor LS for the women's elite race that used an über lightweight Easton crankset.
Despite the high-end, lightweight cranks, Franz wasn't afraid to go old-school with her puncture tools. The American had a tiny tyre plug kit strapped to her frame, perhaps in a bid to save weight?
And yep, you saw that right. Franz also fitted a bell to her bike, telling Cyclingnews "I added a bell to see if it would help me get past!"
Another minute detail we saw in the pits was the use of zip ties by former British national champion Danni Shrosbree.
The plastic cables offered extra support for her bottle cages as she tackled the uneven terrain.
If Shrosbree's bottle cage hack was unassuming, her Felt Breed was anything but that.
Plenty of her components have seen a season's worth of racing but the Breed frame with its graffiti-style decals pops.
Shrosbree opted for the Shimano GRX 48/31T groupset with a 4iiii power meter. She was also riding on Hunt Limitless wheels with 40mm Kenda Alluvium Pro gravel tyres.
This Selle SMP Dynamic saddle was an interesting pairing for Lander Loockx's Cannondale SuperSix EVO and its Tour de Tietema team livery.
We feel like the team mechanic could've done a tidier job with the electrical tape here.
Lastly, Reverb Cycling Team's bikes, built around a 3T Racemax frame, had a stealthy paint job for starters, but then we noticed some other intriguing components.
The bike featured a sleek 3T More stem for integrated cable routing.
And the 3T Torno 1X-specific crankset that gives off a rather brutalist feel to say its made in Italy.
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