In my newly-made-up war of the bike brands, the day's results make it one apiece between Specialized and Cervélo, who sponsor SD Worx and Team Jumbo Visma respectively, with SRAM enjoying a double win, finishing the day two-nil up in the also-made-up battle of the groupsets.
Cyclingnews is on the ground at Opening Weekend in Belgium, and after some sweet talking and light cajoling, I managed to get up close with both of the winners' bikes.
The fruits of that very labour can be found below, but please forgive the position of the cranks, valves, and in Van Baarle's case, the entire bike. Mechanics don't particularly like us touching the bikes, so we're at their whim with how well they're presented.
Lotte Kopecky's S-Works Tarmac SL7
My psychic powers were clearly in decent form on Saturday morning ahead of the race. With all of the SD Worx bikes to choose from, I opted for this very one. I then had more time with it at the finish where it was, uh, exactly the same save for a light dusting of Flandrian earth and as UCI doping control tag.
Lotte Kopecky's S-Works Tarmac SL7, in its stunning purple fade SD Worx colourway (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
She's using Roval's Rapide CLX II aero wheels. They're tubeless compatible, but she was using inner tubes (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Thanks to a well timed visit from the UCI, I can confirm this was "not a motorbike." Interestingly, I got a brief explanation of the device and learned that if this screen shows anything above a 10, then people start getting in trouble (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Ah, Syncros, that well known sponsor of SD Worx... Shhh, don't tell Specialized. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Tacx Ciro bottle cages hold the Garmin-branded bottles (which are also made by Tacx, by the way) (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
How to spot if a team has a rider-personalised nutrition strategy 👆 (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
She's also using the new, still-unreleased bar-stem from Roval, which is compatible with the Roval out-front mount shown here (that is actually made by BarFly) (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The underside of the cockpit is a slightly complex shape, so a special moulded spacer is fitted to maintain sleek aero lines (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Behind it, on the top tube, are the words "This is your stage" (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
She was using a 50/37 chainset, complete with 10-33T cassette at the rear (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
She's also using the shortest cranks available in the SRAM Red line; 165mm (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Here is Kopecky's bike from the finish of the race (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
It's now wearing a new piece of jewellery, in the form of a UCI tag that essentially tells the team not to run off with it until it's been checked - again - for motors (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Unlike Van Baarle below, she's done an excellent job of keeping it clean (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The tyres are 28mm wide and were pumped up to "between 4 and 5 bar." I think, and hope, that the mechanics were purposefully withholding details here (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Dylan van Baarle's Cervélo S5
Unfortunately, my psychic powers were nowhere to be seen at the start of the men's race just hours earlier.
So as a result, I was forced to wait – in a courtyard situated tantalisingly close to a van selling frites – while the UCI commissaires did their thing with their magic iPads to confirm that Van Baarle's bike wasn't in fact a motorbike.
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Once cleared, it was ridden back to the team bus, by the team's bus driver no less, and dumped somewhat hastily, as shown below.
Hastily being the operative word (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
As you can see, Van Baarle doesn't take as good care for his equipment as Kopecky. Just look how dirty it is (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Cervélo's parent company has also launched a wheel brand, Reserve, so with the switch away from Shimano at the start of the year, this was the natural fit (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Up front, Van Baarle was using the Reserve 40, shod with the new - still unreleased - Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres in a 28mm width (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
At the rear, the rim is slightly deeper at 44mm (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The wheels aren't shy about the hubs they use, here, the rims are laced to the 240 hub from rival wheel brand DT Swiss (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The SRAM groupset is fairly old hat by this point, to the point that rumours are circulating about a new Red groupset coming soon (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Van Baarle ran a slightly bigger chainring than Kopecky, but still nowhere near as big as Victor Campenaerts' 62T monster(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
He also used a pro-only 10-30T cassette (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Unfortunately, there were no markings on this stem to show how immensely long it was... I'd hazard a guess at 150mm (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
He's also using SRAM's 'Blip' satellite shifters on the inside of the drops (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Like Kopecky above, Van Baarle's bottles were held in situ with Tacx Ciro cages (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Josh is Associate Editor of Cyclingnews – leading our content on the best bikes, kit and the latest breaking tech stories from the pro peloton. He has been with us since the summer of 2019 and throughout that time he's covered everything from buyer's guides and deals to the latest tech news and reviews.
On the bike, Josh has been riding and racing for over 15 years. He started out racing cross country in his teens back when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s, racing at a local and national level for Somerset-based Team Tor 2000. These days he rides indoors for convenience and fitness, and outdoors for fun on road, gravel, 'cross and cross-country bikes, the latter usually with his two dogs in tow.
