Harry Tanfield is a hot topic after Thursday’s epic win on the first stage of the Tour de Yorkshire, taking the honours from the day long break and finishing just five seconds ahead of the chasing WorldTour studded peloton.
His bike, a Canyon Aeroad, isn’t exactly an unobtainable machine that only the professionals or the rich can access.
In fact Tanfield’s bike on paper is pretty normal in terms of running gear, however, he has added some subtle details to help him remain as aerodynamically efficient as possible.
Canyon’s aero ergocockpit has had some padding added to be more comfortable in the aero position. Picture: Oliver Bridgewood
The first little detail is on Tanfield’s Canyon aero Ergocockpit. It looks like he has placed two small strips of padding on the tops.
We haven’t seen anything like this previously on a road stage at least, but Tanfield used these to great effect during much of his day in the break – these small pads will have saved a lot of post race pain on the arms.
‘Unbranded’ TT saddle for a normal road stage is a little strange to see. Picture: Oliver Bridgewood
Tanfield has opted to use a TT style saddle for a long road stage, which isn’t totally conventional.
However, for his style of riding and the fact he likes to get as aggressively aero as possible, this saddle will help him remain relatively comfortable.
Hunt carbon wheels and running a tubeless set up on Maxxis tyres! Picture: Oliver Bridgewood
Something we’ve questioned a lot recently at Cycling Weekly is why the pro peloton hasn’t adopted tubeless technology yet.
Well Canyon-Eisberg along with Hunt wheels have been advocates of the technology and Tanfield actually used this tubeless set up from Maxxis tyres on his victory ride. Would the tubeless sealant have saved his day if he did have a puncture? I’d like to think so.
Humble in using ‘lower level’ equipment compared to the World Tour. Picture: Oliver Bridgewood
All of us here on the CW tech team have been great fans of Shimano Ultegra and often questioned the need to spend more on Dura-Ace. This helps us prove the point! Tanfield won on Ultegra.
Aero Rotor chainring to help him along. Picture: Oliver Bridgewood
He’s even got an aero chainring supplied by Rotor. Tanfield has a pretty hefty 55/42 married with a 11/30 cassette.
Interestingly if you wanted to get a similar bike to Tanfield, say like the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 8.0 Di2, it’ll currently set you back £3829, well within reach compared to other big teams at this event.
