Pro bikes of RADL GRVL 2026

Romain Bardet’s new rig, a win for Campagnolo Super Record X, a 32er gravel bike, narrower tyres, and plenty more.

Dave Rome

January in Adelaide has become synonymous with Australian summer cycling. Thousands of Australian cyclists make the pilgrimage down south to get some hot holiday riding in while witnessing the WorldTour pros.

Such an event on the calendar has brought a number of cycling side events, from big planned rides to winery tours, and what’s become one of Australia’s biggest gravel races – RADL GRVL.

Run by the same operators as SBT GVRL (Steamboat Gravel) in the USA, RADL GRVL is a single-day gravel race coinciding with the Tour Down Under. This year, a little over 700 people took to the start line, taking on the 127, 65 or 35 km course options, the longest of which also serving as the inaugural Oceania Gravel Championships. Vying for that title was a truly stacked pro field that read like the start list of an Unbound 200.

The men’s race was won by recently retired WorldTour pro Romain Bardet, just ahead of Kiwi Cam Jones (the 2025 Unbound 200 winner) and USA’s Alexey Vermeulen. Australian Nicole Frain took the women’s win, ahead of USA’s Melisa Rollins and Australian national champion Tiffany Cromwell.

This gallery isn’t about how the race played out in the heat, but rather some of the bike and equipment choices riders used. There’s plenty to see with a new 32″ gravel build, plus bikes of Romain Bardet, Cam Jones, Tiffany Cromwell, Alexey Vermeulen, Nicole Frain, Dylan Johnston, Lachlan Morton, Phil Anderson (yes, that Phil Anderson), and plenty more.

There were a surprising number of Life Time Grand Prix athletes enjoying the Australian summer. Alexey Vermeulen was in town with his Enve Mog gravel bike. Here it is pictured the day before the race. The American rider often runs Shimano 2×12 gearing. Here road gearing is paired with a 11-34T cassette. Also note the road pedals, a common pick amongst many gravel pros for faster courses like what Adelaide had to offer. For race day, Vermeulen rode 50 mm Kenda Crusher tyres. He suggested the narrower 45 mm would be ideal if he’d brought them to Australia. There are custom graphics all over this one-off Mog. They’re decals, applied beneath the clear coat. It’s a design that aims to balance low weight (paint is heavy) with some clear personalisation. The famous Sir Willie, the wiener. More personalised detals on the down tube. As for the names on the seat tube, according to Vermeulen, that’s “everyone who helped design, build, create the MOG in general and design and paint my personal MOG.”Gravel can be rough on bottle retention. Here, Vermeulen has wrapped tape around the Silca Ti cages for extra holding power. A closer look at the whole bike. Dylan Johnson was another American in the land of Aus. Johnson was still riding his 2025 Breed Carbon race bike and is sticking with Felt for 2026. The biggest change to Johnson’s bike for the new year is a move to Enve wheels. Johnson runs a mix of new and old SRAM components, along with a KMC chain. He says the KMC chain runs faster than SRAM’s own. It may be faster, but Zero Friction Cycling’s past testing has shown it to be less durable, too. Enve SES 4.5 wheels for Johnson. Also note the stacked water bottles along the down tube … this frame can carry up to four bottles. Despite having a UDH frame, Johnson uses SRAM’s previous-generation Eagle AXS derailleur and cassette. Spot that fancy 3D-printed titanium Silca derailleur hanger. A Thomson Masterpiece alloy seat post meets a Specialized Romin Evo Mirror (3D printed) saddle. Saddle position is set all the way forward on the zero-offset post.Woah, save some stem length for the rest of us! Also note the internal cable routing, a feature only offered on this limited-edition FRD UN1TD model. Johnson is one of the original and most vocal advocates for going wider in gravel tyres. Here he’s running the Schwalbe Thunder Burts (29×2.1″, or roughly 54 mm)A Woodman headset top cap allows a wholly slammed stem position. Also note the offset position of the stem cap preload bolt; beneath it sits a D-shaped steerer tube that allows the brake hoses to be hidden through the Zipp stem and regular 1 1/8″ upper bearing. Race day. The pros were first out. Then the amateurs were off. Lightning quick. Romain Bardet covered the 127 km course in just 3 hours and 30 minutes. Such a time should give you an indication for just how fast this course and its terrain were (plus how insanely strong these pro riders are). Freshly retired from the WorldTour, Bardet has joined the newly formed Factor Racing outfit.Bardet opened up his gravel wins list aboard the Factor Ostro Gravel. Like a few other race-focussed gravel bikes, this one has official clearance for just 700×45 mm tyres.