Alpecin-Premier Tech has a new bike for the Classics, as new Canyon Endurace CFR spotted at Ronde van Brugge

A brand new Canyon Endurace has been spotted today at the Ronde Van Brugge race in Belgium as the main block of Belgian Classics kicks off.

Detailed footage of the new bike was first shared on Instagram by Daniel Benson's Cycling Substack, in a linked post with Bikeradar.

The Endurace has long been Canyon's endurance-focused machine, blending speed and comfort, with the most recent model being launched in 2023. However, it isn't often used in races by Canyon pro teams. Mathieu van der Poel and his teammates, as well as other Canyon athletes, always race on the brand's aero bike, the Aeroad.

This new Endurace, however, looks extremely similar to the Aeroad, but we can tell it's an Endurace by zooming into the bike's seat tube.

It would appear that Canyon has readied this bike to coincide with the start of the Classics.

If you are thinking what I'm thinking, we can perhaps expect an even faster Endurace, but with boosted tyre clearances to save watts on the cobblestones, particularly with Paris-Roubaix on the horizon.

Cyclingnews has reached out to Canyon, and a spokesperson for the brand confirmed that the new bikes would be used for the Spring Classics period, starting with Ronde Van Brugge today. It sounds like Alpecin-Premier Tech were meant to first use the bikes at E3 Saxo Classic on Friday, but have started using them a few days early.

The brand also explained that more Canyon-sponsored teams would be using the bikes for the upcoming Classics races and that we can expect more information soon.

It looks similar to an Aeroad, but on closer inspection, it's definitely a new Endurace. The key giveaway is the model name written on the rear of the seat tube, which can be seen in the video above. Main differences between the two bikes also include the lack of a sculpted seat tube cutaway, and some of the frame tube profiles also appear to be slightly less aggressive than the Aeroad.

Mathieu van der Poel stands on the cusp of greatness this spring. He'll be attempting to take his fourth Flanders and Roubaix titles. As a long-time Canyon athlete, it's possibly fair to speculate that some of the new bike's design (if he rides it) is to help him go fast this spring. It appears speed has still been a key priority, and that is what pro riders want.

Separately, we also spotted a curious Canyon handlebar being used by Van der Poel himself lately, which we have photos of below.

On March 17th, Mathieu van der Poel posted an Instagram story of him riding along a canal path. What jumped out was the new handlebars he was riding with, and quite possibly teasing.

The bar has a much different shape and profile from the Canyon CP0048 integrated handlebar that is currently used on the top spec Endurace and Allroad bikes.

We also reached out to Canyon for information on this bar, and the brand supplied a statement indicating it was a prototype. It seems logical to expect that we'll see this bar appear on the new Endurace.

"Our elite-level athletes and teams support us by testing innovative prototypes and pre-production developments for many of our race-winning bikes. We rely on studying these real-world testing conditions to ensure any developments make the grade at the highest level and that they may eventually be presented to consumers.

"We aren't currently releasing any further information about this product, but we are excited to see how it performs," the brand said.

We also spotted a minor update to the Aeroad Van der Poel was riding at Opening Weekend. Canyon has changed the frame to make it SRAM UDH hanger compatible, but confirmed it was just a minor tweak, rather than an all-new bike. Van der Poel and some of his teammates were also riding on prototype Dura-Ace wheels at that race.