Looks can be deceiving, but it appears Mathieu van der Poel may have just leaked a new set of Shimano Dura-Ace gravel wheels.
Pictured in a video by one of his training partners, Freddy Ovett, van der Poel was riding a Canyon Grail CFR gravel bike equipped with a set of wheels that don’t appear to form part of Shimano’s current catalogue.
The obvious giveaway is the bold Dura-Ace branding, which hasn’t been seen on Shimano’s wheels since the R9100-generation models.
Since we only have compressed screengrabs of Ovett’s video to go on, there’s only so much we can infer about this specific wheelset as things stand.
However, given we know van der Poel and his teammates are testing other bits of prototype Shimano kit – such as the carbon-spoked road wheels we spotted at Omloop het Nieuwsblad and a set of unreleased road pedals (the latter or which were partly to blame for taking him out of contention for the win at this year's Paris-Roubaix) – this latest leak could signal something far more significant.
Shimano may finally be ready to launch a flagship Dura-Ace gravel groupset.
What we do and don’t know so far
So far, all we know for certain is that van der Poel is riding a different set of wheels, and that he and his teammates are currently testing new Shimano components.
Of course, that doesn’t mean this is a new set of unreleased Shimano Dura-Ace wheels, but it is a strong correlation.
We can likely rule out van der Poel using a 10-year-old Dura-Ace R9100 wheelset, because Shimano only made 37mm- and 60mm-deep tubeless-ready carbon wheels for that generation – and both had extremely narrow (by modern standards), 17mm internal and 24 / 28mm external rim widths.
In contrast, the rims van der Poel is using seem to be a good match – in terms of rim width and how the tyres are shaped – for his chunky gravel tyres, at least from what we can glean from the video.
It’s possible van der Poel has simply badged up a set of wheels from another brand with Dura-Ace logos, to avoid prying eyes picking up on the fact he’s gone rogue with his equipment choices.
As with many pros, van der Poel has occasionally been spotted using non-sponsor-correct equipment over the years, after all.
If that was the case, though, we might have expected him to pick some decals that were slightly more subtle and in line with existing Shimano wheelsets, rather than ones that look designed to be eye-catching.
Shimano’s existing gravel wheelset options top out with the 32mm-deep, GRX carbon wheelset – so we can be fairly certain this isn’t that wheelset with upgraded stickers.
It’s conceivable this is the same carbon-spoked road wheelset we’ve seen van der Poel race throughout this year’s spring classics, albeit finally badged up with sponsor logos. But given that wheelset is slated to have a 23mm internal rim width (according to the stickers we saw on the rims at Omloop), that still feels too narrow for a modern gravel wheelset – even by Shimano’s relatively conservative standards.
Its existing GRX carbon wheelset features 25mm-wide rims, and we’d expect any new gravel wheelset to be at least that wide.
Is Dura-Ace finally coming to gravel?
If these wheels are the real deal, it could mean Shimano is planning to finally launch Dura-Ace-level gravel components.
This would be a significant move for Shimano because its GRX series of gravel components has so far remained pitched steadfastly at an equivalent level to Ultegra Di2 and below.
Shimano has a history of launching new technologies one step below the Dura-Ace level, before bringing them to its flagship component series later on, when it deems the technology to be sufficiently mature.
Its first electronic/hydraulic road disc brake shifters – the BR-R875s – were pitched at the Ultegra level, before eventually reaching Dura-Ace with the R9100-generation groupset.
A Dura-Ace gravel launch would make sense, too, given it’s now the only one of the ‘big three’ groupset brands to not have a flagship gravel groupset, and the discipline’s increasing commercial importance.
Unfortunately, the potential leaks appear to end at the wheelset for now, because van der Poel’s Canyon looks to be equipped with a Dura-Ace Di2 R9200 road groupset.
We’ve contacted Shimano for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.
