Marianne Vos showed that the drop bar tech frontier lies firmly within gravel territory after taking second place in the Gravel World Championships aboard a heavily modified Cervelo Aspero-5.
Instantly noticeable by the contrasting sidewall colours was the tyre setup. Mounted to the front wheel was Vittoria’s 45mm Terreno T70, a gravel tyre with an aggressive tread. At the rear, however, Vos selected a 42mm Vittoria Corsa Pro Control, making for somewhat of a mullet setup.
Visma Cervelo Aspero 5-04 (credit: Liam Cahill)
Speaking to road.cc before the start, Vos’ teammate, Femke De Vries joked about a business in the front and party in the back setup, before saying the choice had been made to balance the speed of the smooth gravel paths with corners that were peppered with section of loose stones.
The Dutch hills specialist, who ended the day with 8th place, also pointed to wet weather in the week before Worlds as a reason for the Terreno T70’s inclusion in what she called the “perfect setup.”
Vos Cervelo Aspero 5 Post Race-4 (credit: Liam Cahill)
At this stage, the widest Corsa Pro Control available on Vittoria’s website is a 34mm, and the tyre on Vos’ bike is not branded in the same way as the rest of the range.
Visma Cervelo Aspero 5-06 (credit: Liam Cahill)
It is not uncommon for Vittoria, along with other tyre sponsors, to produce special tyres for their professional riders, but the UCI rules state that a product must be available to purchase. Whether this means that we will see a 42mm Corsa Pro Control for sale soon is unclear, but with brands like Pirelli offering wide versions of their road tyres, it would not be a surprise.
In the past, Vos has chosen cyclocross tyres, the Calendonia all-road bike, and now that the course demanded speed, she opted for the redesigned Apsero-5 gravel bike.
Visma Cervelo Aspero 5-03 (credit: Liam Cahill)
The Aspero-5 launched in July with lofty claims of being 37 watts faster than the previous version. It also came with space for 45mm tyres, which Vos made full use of.
Visma Cervelo Aspero 5-10 (credit: Liam Cahill)
But what wasn’t new was the sight of the Gravaa Kaps system. These special hubs allow the rider to inflate and deflate their tyres numerous times within the race and Vos used them to great effect in 2024.
Vos Cervelo Aspero 5 Post Race-3 (credit: Liam Cahill)
The buttons for the shifters sit on Vos’ handlebar.
Vos Cervelo Aspero 5 Post Race-1 (credit: Liam Cahill)
Elsewhere, the Visma setup is unchanged with SRAM providing its 13-speed Red AXS XPLR cassette and rear derailleur. Vos paired this 10-46T cassette with a 48T chainring.
The defending champ was, in the end, out-sprinted by Lorena Wiebes, but not before Vos had thrown everything at her Dutch teammate and we had been treated to an incredible finish. It’s worth a watch…