Ollie Bridgewood’s new Canyon Aeroad CFR

GCN’s Ollie Bridgewood has a new Canyon Aeroad bike and there’s no denying that it’s a seriously impressive bike.

Fans of racing will know that it’s a bike with some pretty envious racing credentials too, having been ridden to victory at every men’s Monument so far this season - not by Ollie, we should add, who isn't quite on the level of Monument winners Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel.

He might not have pro-level legs, but his bike has pro-level tech, so we decided to take a closer look at Ollie’s new bike to learn a little more about the build and how Ollie has set it up.

• Read more: Can the new Canyon Endurace CFR replace an aero bike?

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Ollie Bridgewood's new Canyon Aeroad CFR has plenty of race winning pedigree

Canyon Aeroad CFR: One of the fastest bikes in the world

As already discussed, the Canyon Aeroad has seriously impressive racing pedigree and Ollie’s CFR model sits at the top of the range. It’s the lightest and stiffest model in the Aeroad line-up, using the best carbon lay-up at Canyon’s disposal.

Adding to the racing feel, it also shares the same iridescent colourway as the bikes ridden by the Alpecin-Deceuninck team. This colour changes depending on the angle you look at it from.

Once you’ve looked past the seriously eye-catching purple design, it doesn’t take long to notice that it is a pure aero machine, built for all-out speed. That’s given away by the deep tube profiles which give the bike a familiar aero silhouette.

The Aeroad sits alongside the climbing-focussed Canyon Ultimate, a bike which Ollie rode previously. Known to be a bit of a mountain goat, Ollie has traditionally stuck to climbing bikes but fancied a change to something more aero, and the Aeroad was a natural choice.

It is in a size large, the same size that Mathieu van der Poel uses. Ollie has previously stuck to the medium size for Canyon bikes but chose to size up on the recommendation of Selle Italia’s ID matching fitting system - for reference, Ollie is 185cm tall.

• Read more: Pro bike: Emma Norsgaard’s Canyon Aeroad CFR

Ollie tests the current trend for monster set-ups

Ollie’s Aeroad is set up with Shimano’s top-tier Dura-Ace groupset. It is the most popular choice in the men’s WorldTour at the minute, used by 14 of the 18 teams. There’s a similar picture in the women’s peloton too, although its dominance isn’t quite as strong.

• Read more: 2024 Women’s WorldTour bikes, wheels and groupsets: A complete guide

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Watch out for future changes to the spec of this bike as Ollie takes on some challenges for upcoming GCN videos

This season has marked a noticeable trend for larger chainrings but Ollie has stuck to a mid-compact 52/36t set-up, for the time being at least. That will soon change when he fits 54/42 rings to his bike as a part of an experiment to see if he can cope with the same monster setups that the pros use - keep your eyes on the GCN channels in the future for the results.

It’s a similar story at the back of the bike where there’s a stock 11/30t cassette, but that will likely be swapped out for an 11/34t, as is now popular. This will provide a wide range of gears and, as Dura-Ace is 12-speed, comes with less of a sacrifice in gearing ratios.

Seriously lightweight wheels

Elitewheels recently hopped aboard as wheel sponsors for GCN and Ollie has wasted no time taking advantage of its seriously lightweight Drive 40s.

They’re made up of ceramic bearings, carbon spokes and 40mm rims, all of which combine to create a package that tips the scales at only 1260g a pair.

Check out the full video for the freehub check at the top of this page, you won’t be disappointed.

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Ollie has already switched some lightweight Drive 40s wheels onto his new bike

The Drive wheels are paired with Pirelli’s P Zero SLs in a 28mm width, set up tubeless. These come with some performance benefits over the regular P Zeros, namely lower rolling resistance and enhanced puncture protection. Ollie has previously put them through their paces at the Tour des Stations and they didn’t disappoint.

Explore more pro bikes on the GCN website.

Bike Specification