Mathieu van der Poel may have inadvertently revealed a key detail about Shimano’s unreleased road pedals during Paris-Roubaix.
The defendging Dutchman punctured twice and was forced to change bikes on the Trouée d’Arenberg, but appeared to struggle to clip into a Jasper Philipsen's bike – which we know was fitted with Shimano’s new prototype pedals.
This strongly suggests the new pedals – likely called SPD-SLR – uses a different cleat design to the current SPD-SL standard.
We first spotted the pedals on Jasper Philipsen’s bike ahead of the race.
While changes to the pedal body itself appear subtle, this latest incident points to more significant updates hidden out of sight.
At a glance, the prototypes closely resemble Shimano’s existing Dura-Ace PD-R9100 pedals, with only minor tweaks to the body shape and contact plates.
However, a slimmer central section suggests Shimano is continuing the recent push towards lower stack heights.
There’s been a growing arms race in this area, with brands chasing marginal gains, where bringing the rider’s foot closer to the pedal axle for improved stability and efficiency.
It’s possible Shimano’s new cleat and pedal combination pushes this further, even if outward changes appear minimal.
There’s no official word on the launch or technical details at the time of writing, but this mid-race incident offers the clearest indication yet that a more significant evolution of Shimano’s long-standing road pedal system could be on the way.
