Spotted: New Shimano Dura-Ace R9300 groupset breaks cover at La Vuelta a España

A brand new Dura-Ace groupset has been spotted today on the bikes of Alpecin-Premier Tech, sitting near the team bus as riders got underway at stage 1 of the Vuelta a España.

'When is new Dura-Ace arriving?' has been the question on tech fans' lips for many months now. We saw prototype Dura-Ace pedals back at Paris Roubaix in the spring, and the latest Dura-Ace R9370 wheels launched at the end of last month.

While the latest SRAM Red top-flight road groupset came out in 2024, the last time we saw a new Dura-Ace from Shimano was way back in 2021 when it jumped from 11sp (remember that?) to 12.

Now, five years on, Cyclingnews has spotted new Dura-Ace shifters, derailleurs, chainsets and more, and as expected by many, it’s going from 12 to 13 speeds.

We didn't have long to snap these photos before being ushered away by team staff, so here’s everything we can decipher, and everything else we know so far about what we understand will be Dura-Ace R9300.

Thirteen speed

While SRAM Red (the road-going version) is 12-speed, its XPLR range is 13, and both Campagnolo’s Record and Super Record groupsets are too, as are its Ekar off-road components. As expected, the latest Dura-Ace has caught up, offering that extra sprocket at the rear.

The image above clearly shows 13 sprockets on the cassette. What can't be deciphered, however, is how big that small sprocket is. When Shimano launched XTR for its MTB riders last year, it offered a 9-45t rear cassette, and while we don’t expect to see a 9t sprocket on the road as the UCI commissaires may really get antsy with gear restriction, a 10t is far from out of the question to match SRAM.

What we also couldn't see, but do understand from reports online, is that this bump up from 12 to 13 speed necessitates a new freehub body, so if you’re running a standard Shimano HG freehub you will need to factor that change in.

Alloy cranks, still

Aside from the missing branding and the newly designed power meter, the cranks look a lot like the existing ones. While SRAM and Campagnolo have both moved to carbon fibre for their top-end cranksets (and other bits besides), Shimano has remained steadfast in its use of alloy, despite an extremely high-profile crankset recall in recent years.

This bonded alloy construction has been the norm since it appeared on Dura-Ace in 2010, despite a brief flirtation with carbon for a special-edition Dura-Ace crankset a few years before, and things don’t seem to be changing in any way for 9300.

1x or 2x?

Unusually in the image above, the crank is paired with what appear to be aftermarket rings. Shimano has long used hollow forged chainrings that meet the crank spider smoothly, but here, it appears the chainrings aren't made to be used with the R9300 chainset, because they are fitted with bolt covers.

This could merely be a case of a prototype product, not quite being finished yet, or it could suggest the brand is looking more at standard machined chainrings and a better compatibility with 1x.

It’s not fully wireless

In perhaps the most unexpected news of this leak, it appears the new Dura-Ace isn’t following in the footsteps of XTR, which many expected to pave the way for fully wireless Shimano road groupsets, and appears to be sticking with ‘semi-wireless’.

Assuming it retains the same setup as 9200, that means the system is wireless from the shifter hoods, but the front and rear derailleurs are connected to each other by a battery, usually placed inside either the down tube or the seat tube.

This is evidenced by the short length of cable emanating from the driveside chain stay, connecting to the rear derailleur, meaning you’ll still have to charge your bike in-situ, and fiddle with internal cable routing to some degree on setup.

This also means the dream of true intercompatibility between road, gravel, and MTB components, given that top-end GRX components have also gone fully wireless for their latest iteration, could well have to wait further still, which feels like a mis-step given the direction of travel for the industry.

Riders do currently routinely use Dura-Ace shifters to shift wireless XTR or GRX rear derailleurs, however, so all is not lost.

A UDH replica

UDH, or Universal Derailleur Hanger, is a SRAM thing, but Shimano appears to have a similar version. Reports online show a design that includes an 'anti-rotation pin' inside, but that's not possible to see here, of course.

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New shifters, an extra 'thumb' button

Aside from the jump to 13 sprockets, this is the talking point. Instead of 9or perhaps as well as) the hidden button underneath the rubber of the hood, there's a new protruding 'thumb' button on the inner face of each hood.

This matches the latest SRAM Red hood, but presumably takes the tactility even higher; often one of the complaints about both SRAM's and Shimano's 'hidden' buttons.