Has cycling's most affordable pro bike brand just launched its aero machine?

Van Rysel appears to have quietly launched a new aero bike ahead of the 2025 season, with the new machine set to form part of the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale arsenal in WorldTour events next year.

The announcement was hidden away in a press release from the brand and French pro team under the sub-heading of "RCR-F, a new bike to dominate the sprint" with little other detail provided. Perhaps this was a sneak preview, in order to perk up the interest of tech geeks across the industry. Whatever it was, it worked, and the new bike instantly generated a lot of interest across social media.

The bike looks suspiciously similar to the prototype aero race bike seen raced at the Tour de France earlier this year; rider Sam Bennett's carried the wording ‘Aero24 Project - Sample 06’ on the fork.

Van Rysel made a name for itself last season with the introduction of the RCR Pro, the most-affordable WorldTour bike on the market, and appears set to continue the trend of being one of the most talked about brands in the industry with its latest offering.

The top-end RCR Pro still comes in at £9,000, however, that's £3,000 cheaper than comparable specification elsewhere; the savings do drop off on lower equipped models.

A brief description of the new machine reads: "From this season, the RCR and XCR will be joined on the roads by the RCR-F, an even more powerful machine that will propel classic riders and sprinters to an unprecedented level. Designed to slice through the air with speed, the RCR-F redefines the standards of aero bikes."

Oliver Naesen, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale’s resident Classics king, will be licking his lips after reading that description, particularly as he couldn’t rain in the superlatives when describing the RCR after getting his hands on it last year.

"If you ask me, this bike is going to turn the market upside-down," the Belgian rider said.

"It is truly excellent. A brutal machine, by far the best I've had," Naesen added. "Light as a feather too. On other bicycles they use shallow wheels and lighter pedals to limit the weight. Mine has heavier, deeper wheels and standard pedals fitted, and it weighs only 100 grams over the limit."

According to information provided on the brand’s website, the new RCR-F was designed in collaboration with the wheel manufacturer Swiss Side and achieves aerodynamic savings of more than 13 watts compared to its sister model, the RCR Pro.

Other than that almost nothing else is officially known about the mysterious new aero bike as things stand. However, mechanics at the team told Cycling Weekly that riders were "very" impressed with the protoype model raced earlier this year.