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<\/a>J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Debeuf, Van Rysel product manager of race bikes. Image courtesy of Van Rysel<\/p>\nLike Decathlon, Van Rysel is based in northern France, but the bike brand is what Debeuf describes as a performance ecosystem unto itself. In the City of Lille, Van Rysel (which is Flemish for \u201cfrom Lille\u201d) has its design teams, engineers, R&D labs, 3D printers, machines for fatigue tests, an area for developing and testing paint, as well as supply management and communication teams. Almost everything is within Van Rysel\u2019s headquarters. The frames are manufactured in Vietnam with the company\u2019s own moulds, and then assembled in France. It all started with roughly 15 people in 2019. Today, the company has approximately 60 employees in Lille and more than 300 worldwide.<\/p>\n
Debeuf said the development of Van Rysel\u2019s top road bikes began with some serious number crunching. The company simulated around 25 of the more significant races in the WorldTour calendar, looking at variables such as terrain, riders and even weather conditions. Designers and engineers attempted to make a bike with the right balance of aerodynamics, low weight and frame stiffness that could excel at all the events. Could there even be one bike for all courses? \u201cWe clearly saw that to be excellent everywhere, it was impossible to do it with one bike only,\u201d Debeuf said. There\u2019d have to be two. The first would be what Debeuf calls an \u201caero-light\u201d solution, something that is light enough for steep inclines, but also cuts through the wind efficiently. \u201cIt\u2019s a bike that can perform on 70 per cent of the races in the calendar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Part of the development process involved a friendly neighbour. \u201cFrom my office window, I can see ONERA\u2019s wind tunnel,\u201d Debeuf said, referring to the Office National d\u2019\u00c9tudes et de Recherches A\u00e9rospatiales nearby. Think of ONERA as France\u2019s NASA. The folks at Van Rysel made contact with some cycling enthusiasts at the aerospace research facility who were keen to help with the development of the new bike. \u201cWe have 3D printers here,\u201d Debeuf continued. \u201cWe printed different iterations of the frame, fork and bar\/stem combo. Then during one week, we just crossed the street to test them in a wind tunnel. So it was quite efficient, finding the RCR\u2019s final shape.\u201d<\/p>\n The bike that the pro riders saw near the end of 2023 was this RCR. (It\u2019s soon to be renamed the RCR-R to differentiate it more clearly from the model that came out soon after.) It featured the mix aero, weight and stiffness qualities that Van Rysel was after. The company says it\u2019s the frame for courses that have more than 1,500 m of elevation gain per 100 km, average speeds of around 35 km\/h and climbs with grades greater than 5 per cent. The model that the riders on Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale use is the RCR Pro. Compared with the standard RCR, the Pro is slighter lighter and stiffer, just what WorldTour riders need. For the rest of us, the standard RCR, with its slightly lower price point and frame stiffness, is likely the right frame for our rides.<\/p>\n By May 2024, Van Rysel had the tube shapes settled for its next top-end bike, the aero-focused RCR-F, which was made in collaboration with the aerodynamics experts at Swiss Side. What designers still needed to settle was the bike\u2019s carbon-fibre layup. That month, riders such as Oliver Naesen, Sam Bennett and Dries De Bondt\u2014Classics and sprinter types\u2014tested prototypes to give feedback on the frame\u2019s makeup. The RCR-F then saw racing action at the 2024 Tour de France. For the final validation of the model, we look once again to Quebec City, where rider Paul Lapeira came to the provincial capital with the new aero bike. Van Rysel\u2019s white paper says it saves 1.2 W at the fork, 4.4 W at the head tube and 1.7 W at the down tube at a speed of 45 km\/h when compared with the RCR. The one-piece bar\/stem combo, a collaboration with Deda, saves 2.7 W. While testers found that the most aero position for a rider is with their hands on the hoods, forearms parallel to the ground and the shoulders pulled in slightly, they added 12 degrees of flare at the drops for sprint stability and for the best possible aerodynamics when charging for the finish.<\/p>\n This past September, shortly after I spoke with team DS Guill\u00e9, I met with Lapeira to ask him about what he learned from riding in Quebec City and Montreal in 2024. Lapeira has been involved with Van Rysel for years, giving his feedback to the brand. In fact, the week before he arrived in Quebec, he was in a wind tunnel testing a Van Rysel skinsuit that has a planned release of next year. (\u201cTo be honest, the wind tunnel is not that fun because it\u2019s really hard to just stay in a perfect position on the bike for hours. But it\u2019s really some good work in the end,\u201d he said.) What did he discover in 2024 when he had both the RCR and RCR-F in Canada? \u201cRCR-F was better in Quebec because it\u2019s a faster route. Then I used the RCR for the Montreal race,\u201d he said. In 2024, Montreal, considered the harder of the two events, had roughly 1,600 m more elevation compared with the Quebec City circuit. It seemed what Lapeira did in 2024 was also the right formula for 2025, especially since the Quebec City course grew in length by about 15 km and lost about 300 m of elevation gain for this year.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s return back to Guill\u00e9\u2019s spreadsheet. While it showed Lapeira riding the RCR-F in Quebec City, other riders on the team would be on the RCR. Guill\u00e9 explained that bike choice wasn\u2019t simply a matter of the course profile and distance, but also a rider\u2019s abilities and even his role within a race, whether he was a leader or domestique, and even at what point of the race he was expected to perform his duties.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Quebec City really suits me well,\u201d Lapeira said at our meeting. \u201cI would like to play for the win, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n Two days later, he made good on that plan. In the final lap of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec, Lapeira was in the second breakaway group of eight riders that included Tadej Poga\u010dar and Biniam Girmay. They were chasing the group of seven just ahead that featured Julian Alaphilippe, the eventual winner. Lapeira and company came within less than 15 seconds of catching the lead group. It was oh-so-close before the chase collapsed and the peloton mopped up Group 2.<\/p>\n The next day, the teams and organizers all headed west to Montreal. There, I met with Perrine Chudy, Van Rysel\u2019s global communication director. She and her colleagues were setting up the Van Rysel booth in the race\u2019s expo area. (On race day, the place was bumping even before the expo was officially open.) She told me how the links between Van Rysel and Canada were going to go beyond validating and racing top-end bikes on our roads.<\/p>\n In March 2026, there will be a large influx of Van Rysel\u2019s premium products into Canada. Notably, they will be in shops outside of Decathlon stores. Those retailers include six Bicycles Quilicot locations in Quebec, four Bike Depot stores in the Greater Toronto Area, three The Bike Shop spots in Calgary and Steed Cycles in North Vancouver. With the online sales component of some of these shops, Van Rysel expects to have most of the country covered. I asked Chudy why Van Rysel was coming to those dealers as the bike brand has a Decathlon connection available. \u201cWe want to be present in Canada and offer a very premium service, a very premium experience,\u201d she said. \u201cWe already have Van Rysel shops in Europe and in China. We want to offer exactly the same in Canada. These Canadian shops can offer this kind of service, so it was super important to collaborate with them. They know our bikes and how to fit them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, I have good news,\u201d Chudy added. \u201cOur RCR and RCR-F, the two race models, will be available in December this year.\u201d In March, the time trial bike, the XCR, will land, as will the recently released EDR Ultra all-road bike. It\u2019s what Camille Albisser rode in the most recent NorthCape4000 ultra-endurance event. She clocked 4,000 km in 12 days, crossing eight countries, starting in Italy and finishing in the far north of Norway. Albisser was the first woman to get to the finish. For cyclocross fans, you\u2019ll note that Van Rysel is one of the few companies that make a dedicated CX frame. While it currently has an aluminum and a carbon-fibre gravel bike, two new gravel rigs are on the way. Beyond the bikes, there are helmets and glasses, some of which are tested in the wind tunnel alongside the RCR-F, so a rider can have a complete system of aero products that works as a whole. Van Rysel has shoes, kit and socks. An indoor trainer is on its way, too.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a big push by the company. Chudy said, echoing comments I\u2019d heard from others I spoke with at Van Rysel, that the brand wants to be among the top five names in the world. If you\u2019re asked to list five bike makers, Van Rysel\u2019s aiming to be one of the main ones that comes to mind. The company see Canada as an important market for its global goals.<\/p>\n To click with Canucks, Van Rysel is honing in on something that resonates with those from Lille and those of us sitting atop the 49th parallel: geography. The Van Rysel group\u2014so close to Roubaix, the finish of the Hell of the North\u2014comprises proud northerners, attached to their pav\u00e9 and cold weather. We, of course, know a little something about the cold, eh? When Van Rysel looks at the Canadian market, it sees a connection it calls, \u201cFrom North, to North.\u201d I suppose it\u2019s appropriate that its bikes are making their way here in December and March. They\u2019ll be ready to go when the routes are clear. Actually, make that \u201cclear enough for a northerner to ride.\u201d<\/p>\n This story is presented by Van Rysel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/a>The Van Rysel RCR Pro with its hydro-dipped paint job. This is the bike ridden by the continenal team Van Rysel Roubaix. Image courtesy of Van Rysel
\n<\/a>A hydro-dipped Van Rysel RCR Pro. Image courtesy of Van Rysel<\/p>\n<\/a>Wind tunnel testing. Image courtesy of Van Rysel<\/p>\n<\/a>A late move with Tadej Poga\u010dar, Biniam Girmay, Paul Lapeira and Jonas Abrahamsen looked promising, all finished out of the top 10. Lapeira was the best placed in the end in 12th. Image: Gr\u00e9goire Crevier<\/p>\n<\/a>Aero testing at one of ONERA\u2019s wind tunnels. ONERA, Office National d\u2019\u00c9tudes et de Recherches A\u00e9rospatiales, can be considered France\u2019s NASA. Image courtesy of Van Rysel<\/p>\n<\/a>Swiss Side worked with Van Rysel on the RCR-F. Image courtesy of Van Rysel<\/p>\n