Jasper Philipsen teases new Shimano S-Phyre shoes at Tour de France

Jasper Philipsen is racing at the Tour de France in what appear to be unreleased Shimano S-Phyre cycling shoes.

The shoes look very similar to the current S-Phyre RC903 shoes, potentially with details borrowed from the ‘PWR’ model that’s specifically for sprinters such as Philipsen, time triallists and track cyclists. 

Shimano released the S-Phyre RC903 shoes in 2022 after months of teasing from Philipsen’s Alpecin-Premier Tech teammate Mathieu van der Poel and Lorena Wiebes, among others. So it’s safe to assume Shimano would get any forthcoming shoes out into the wild ahead of a release, even if we have to wait a while for an official launch. 

It appears Shimano has tweaked the lacing setup on Philipsen’s new road cycling shoes. The current RC903 has a large section of material that comes across from the instep to the outer and fastens with the upper Boa dial. However, the new shoe features a wraparound that extends only partly across the foot, like on the PWR model.

Unlike the PWR, which combines a Boa dial with a Velcro strap across the toebox, Philipsen’s shoe still has two Boa dials. It’s hard to tell from the pictures we have, but we suspect the lower Boa dial has been moved slightly further down the shoe. 

It’s possible the forthcoming model could combine Shimano’s learnings around the fit at the top of the shoe or the weight-saving of a smaller overlap, with the precision and neatness of two Boa dials, which feels more in keeping with S-Phyre’s position as the ‘Dura-Ace’ of Shimano’s shoe range. 

The lacing on the new shoes, which could be called S-Phyre RC904, has also changed. The laces on Shimano’s RC903 shoes match the overall colour. But Philipsen’s white shoes have contrasting black laces.

Otherwise, it’s hard to tell what else has changed on Philipsen’s shoes. But if Shimano’s previous S-Phyre releases are anything to go by, the new shoes will only have incremental changes rather than any drastic changes.