Van Rysel's new RCR-R Pro is the lightest frame it has ever developed

A deep red Van Rysel RCR-R Pro on an empty road — (Image credit: Van Rysel)

Van Rysel has unveiled a new, climbing-focused RCR-R Pro, claiming a significant weight reduction with the lightest frame it has ever developed.

The new bike was first spotted being ridden by Decathlon CMA CGM’s star rider, Paul Seixas, at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (formerly Critérium du Dauphiné) and the Tour de France, where our tech editor got up close and personal with an unreleased RCR-R Pro. He rode it to victory at Il Lombardia last month, becoming the youngest ever winner of the Italian Monument Classic (below). It was a blacked-out prototype, but the pared-back tubes and telltale ‘Road-Aero-Light’ decal gave us a good idea of the direction the French brand was taking for the next generation of its all-rounder flagship race bike.

Now Van Rysel has officially unveiled it, and has confirmed what we suspected: it is light. With a claimed frame weight of 705 grams and aerodynamic performance on a par with the previous model, the new RCR-R Pro is described as a bike “developed to deliver speed across the varied demands of modern racing, from steep mountain climbs to fast, flatter roads”.

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The original RCR-R Pro had a good run: since Van Rysel entered the WorldTour at the beginning of 2024, it has scored 50 professional victories. Highlights include Ben O'Connor's 13 days in the red jersey at the 2024 Vuelta a España, Nicolas Prodhomme's Giro d'Italia stage win in 2025 and Seixas's overall victory and two stage wins at the Itzulia Basque Country.

The new bike isn’t radically different in its aero all-rounder designation – the Decathlon team also uses the Van Rysel RCR-F aero bike – but it follows the trend for lighter aero all-rounders we’ve seen recently. Ridley, for example, last month launched the Falcn RS 2.0 that Uno-X had been riding at the Tour de France which, by coincidence, has the exact same claimed frame weight of 705 grams.

Built with SRAM Red AXS, the new RCR-R Pro has a claimed weight of 6.6 kilos. Van Rysel says this lower weight doesn’t come only from reduced tube profiles: it was also achieved via changes to the frame's construction including its junctions, carbon lay-up and material use. The frame uses a combination of super-high-modulus and high-modulus carbon fibre. Other components have also been revised with a more flexible seatpost, weight taken out of the seat clamp and computer mount, plus axles that save a further five grams. The 'frame kit' saves a claimed 240 grams compared with the outgoing one.

Van Rysel isn’t claiming any aerodynamic gains for the new frame, and with the smaller tubes it would be unlikely to find any. However, it has developed a custom aero bottle and cage (available separately) that are claimed to save up to 6.3 watts at 45kph (compared to the previous generation) with turning legs and in turbulence. Van Rysel’s simulations calculated that in Tour de France stage 20 from Bourg d’Oisans to Alpe d’Huez the aero bottle setup would have cut almost a minute and a half off a time of 4:47:18. At the Worlds in Montreal it would have taken two minutes and 17 seconds off a time of 6:37:23. Any frame designer or aerodynamicist will admit that custom aero bottles are an easy win, but teams rarely use them in real competition, favouring standard round ones for practical reasons.

The bike’s development involved 13 CFD prototypes, five wind-tunnel prototypes and seven different frame layups according to Van Rysel, with more than 48 hours spent on aerodynamic optimisation. The process also included testing by Decathlon CMA CGM riders, with climbing specialists including Prodhomme and Matthew Riccitello providing feedback during training camps in Sierra Nevada.

The seat tube of a Van Rysel RCR-R Pro in deep red

It says rider feedback helped refine the handling and balance of the chassis, with particular attention paid to power transfer, climbing performance and stability. The brand claims the front end delivers increased stiffness for efficient power transfer, while additional flex at the rear is intended to improve traction and comfort.

In its press release Van Rysel doesn’t dwell on geometry – it hardly even gets a mention. But the new bike's numbers are very different from the previous bike’s – and different from those of other bikes considered to be benchmarks in the WorldTour. Despite the trend for higher front ends, the stack/reach is much more aggressive than before. The size medium RCR-R Pro has a stack/reach ratio of 1.36 compared to the 1.40 of the outgoing, which was already quite racy. For comparison, the size M Specialized Tarmac SL9 has a ratio of 1.43. When we photographed Seixas’s prototype RCR-R Pro at the Tour’s Grand Départ, he was running 15 millimetres of spacers. This is clearly why.

The stack/reach is not the only aspect of the new RCR-R Pro's geometry that’s aggressive: the seat tube angle in the size M is a very steep 78.6 degrees compared to 73.5 degrees of the previous version (and the Tarmac SL9). While the bigger saddle-bar drop and steeper seat angle are aiming to put the rider into a more aerodynamic tuck and improve pedalling efficiency, the front-end handling should feel the same, with the head tube angle 73 degrees as before, and fork rake 45mm as before. The size range has expanded from six to seven, from XXS up to XXL.

Alongside the RCR-R Pro, Van Rysel will also offer a more affordable version, the RCR-R, using the same frame design with a different carbon layup. This model uses high-modulus carbon, with a claimed frame weight of 883 grams in size medium. Both versions share the same fork weight of 360 grams

The RCR-R Pro will be available with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 and Ultegra groupsets, as well as SRAM Red AXS and Force AXS. The lightest is the SRAM Red version with Swiss Side Hadron3 380 Ultimate wheels, which in the consumer version has a claimed weight of 6.6 kilos. The top-spec Dura-Ace model, fitted with Swiss Side Hadron3 550 Ultimate wheels, has a claimed weight of 6.9k.

The standard RCR-R will be offered with Shimano Ultegra Si2 and 105 Di2, and SRAM Force and Rival groupsets.

The Van Rysel RCR-R Pro and RCR-R will be available in Europe, UK, China and North America. Prices will range from €3,299 to €8,999, with more detailed pricing and availability information for individual markets due ahead of the official market launch on January 5, 2027.

First ride impressions – Van Rysel RCR-R Pro

Adam Becket, news editor, Cycling Weekly

I had the pleasure of being invited to Nice last month for the first opportunity to ride the new Van Rysel RCR-R Pro in some Autumnal sunshine. On some of the famous roads of the Mediterranean city, including the Col d'Èze, I got to test out the French brand's aero-climbing weapon. It has already been seen under the riders of Decathlon CMA CGM, including Paul Seixas, but what's it like for a more ordinary rider?

It's light, and it's fast. It did what it promised to do for me on the sun-blessed roads of the Côte d’Azur, allowing me to climb up Mont Chauve and the Col d'Èze feeling relatively speedy, but while still being reactive and fast on the flat. The RCR-R Pro is a super-bike, but with a bit less of a super-price tag than some of its rivals, and is a great climbing and all-round option if you are in the market for an aggressive pro model.

The most fun I had on it was on the rolling roads between Monaco and Nice – on my favourite 3/4% gradients – when it reacted to snappy accelerations and performed like a race bike would, under a non-racer.

Simon Smythe is a hugely experienced cycling tech writer, who has been writing for Cycling Weekly since 2003. Until recently he was our senior tech writer. In his cycling career Simon has mostly focused on time trialling with a national medal, a few open wins and his club's 30-mile record in his palmares. These days he spends most of his time testing road bikes, or on a tandem doing the school run with his younger son.