Custom hybrid shifters and prototype tyres: Elisa Balsamo's Classics setup

Elisa Balsamo has already been on the podium eight times in 2024, racking up wins in Spain, Italy, and Belgium so far this year. But while the Lidl-Trek rider has access to Trek’s full complement of race bikes, all of her victories this year have been taken aboard her Trek Madone SLR.  

Of course, with the recent rumors of a new SRAM groupset circulating over the last few months, we were particularly intrigued by her non-standard levers on her team bike when we got our hands on it before the start of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. But mechanics explained to us that these were not new or unreleased parts, but instead custom levers used by Balsamo and several other riders. 

The shifters in question, feature a much smaller diameter design than the current SRAM Red levers and look remarkably similar to the current generation SRAM Apex AXS brake levers, but with some crucial differences.

A team mechanic at Lidl-Trek women's team told Cycling Weekly that the Apex AXS-shaped levers feature a stripped-down design with a lighter-weight carbon fiber brake lever blade. Reportedly, the reason behind this was rider comfort. SRAM Red AXS levers have long been known for their larger hood design, which has been relatively polarizing. Balsamo's levers then offer an alternative, a hybrid taking the best shifter design of SRAM’s current smaller lever hoods, and combining it with the lightest weight parts available. 

The rest of Balsamo’s groupset is a much more standard affair, though some interesting gearing choices were made for the Classics season. Balsamo rides a larger 52/39 chainset up front.  

 Once upon a time, this would be a ‘semi-compact’ chainset, but with Sram’s smaller 10t sprocket at the rear, this setup allows for the equivalent of running a 56t chainring with an 11-speed rear sprocket.

The cassette in question has a wider range 10-32, which allows Balsamo to have a large gear range for the super steep Belgian bergs without sacrificing top-end speed.

Another component on the Lidl-Trek bikes that has been causing quite the stir is the unreleased Pirelli tires marked as ‘prototype’. So far, the prototype tires have already been ridden to victory by Balsamo at the Classic Brugge-De Panne, but Pirelli has released no further details about them. The tires are fitted aboard a Bontrager Aeolus RSL 51 TLR disc wheelset, set up tubeless. 

Besides WorldTour-only and prototype kit, the Lidl-Trek team mechanics have made a couple of smaller modifications to the former world champion’s bike for the Classics, most notably a bottle cage hack. 

Small rubber O rings have been added to each side of Balsamo’s bottle cages, a move which the team hopes will reduce the chances of loosing bottles over the brutal bumps in races like Roubaix and Flanders.