Alejandro Valverde unveils new world champion Canyon Ultimate ahead of Il Lombardia

The newly crowned world champion Alejandro Valverde has unveiled his new rainbow themed Canyon Ultimate ahead of Il Lombardia.

Valverde took home his first world champion’s jersey last month at the age of 38.

After debuting his rainbow bands at the Italian one-day races this week, the Spaniard has now unveiled his world championship themed bike.

His Canyon Ultimate CF SLX will make an appearance at the final Monument of the season Il Lombardia on Saturday.

The white bike is adorned with the five rainbow stripes on the tubing and forks.

Valvderde’s new machine also features Campagnolo Bora Ultra 50 wheels with rainbow accents on the rim.

Even the Canyon’s Power2Max power metre features hints of the Spaniard’s latest victory.

The Fizik Antares saddle also comes with rainbow inserts.

Other parts of Valverde’s kit have been altered too, including a new ABUS AirBreaker helmet with the rainbow colours, Elite white bottle cages and special casing for his Drivo smart trainer.

Valverde was crowned world champion on September 30 after a relentlessly hilly course in Innsbruck, Austria.

The 38-year-old Spaniard conquered the dreaded 28% gradients of Höttinger Höll and bested his strongest rivals in a four-up sprint at the line.

Valverde’s win came after a brutal battle on the final climb, as Romain Bardet (FRA), Michael Woods (CAN) and Tom Dumoulin (NED) threatened to thwart his efforts.

But Valverde lead out the sprint in the final few hundred metres and took the win over Bardet and Woods who finished in second and third.

Britain’s best hope in the final was Peter Kennaugh, who attacked on the final climb and held a strong position to finish in 16th at 1-21 down on the winner.

Adam Yates had also held on until the final climb, but fell away on the savage slopes and finished 37th.

Now that the he has at last been crowned world champion, there aren’t too many top one-day Classics left for Valverde to conquer. But one race that stand out that he never won is Il Lombardia – in fact, it’s arguably the biggest hole now remaining on his palmarès in terms of prestigious races that are tailored towards his attributes.

It appears the Spaniard is eager to put that right this week. Riders who have just won the Worlds generally tend to take either one of two different paths: either to end the season on the high of winning gold, or to go on and attempt to win Il Lombardia. Valverde is very much in the latter camp, having competed aggressively to finish third at Milano-Torino on Thursday, in anticipation of a challenge for victory in Lombardy on Saturday.