As the first one-day classic races of the season, Opening Weekend provides the first opportunity for riders to test new equipment on the cobbled Belgian terrain that they'll face again and again in the coming months. That means they usually use the races to trial new tech, with a view to using them at more important races later.
The first big tech story actually came from the Lotto-Dstny course recon on the Wednesday before the race. Victor Campanaerts was spotted using a bike with an enormous 62T chainring, complete with Classified Powershift two-speed hub gear, wide tyres and narrow handlebars.
From the weekend itself, on the morning of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday, we learned that Campenaerts' spare bike was also set up in the wild configuration, proving his commitment to the tech.
We later spent time with the winners' bikes from the opening day, and then on the morning of Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne on Sunday, we spent time with Taco van der Hoorn's Cube Litening – a gallery of which is coming soon. Interestingly, when he subsequently rode past us on it, we noticed something unusual about his leg warmers. It turns out he might have found a loophole in the UCI sock height rule with aero leg warmers, which he spoke to us about.
So far, so busy, but that's not all. We also spent plenty of time getting up close and personal with the teams' bikes, photographing anything that stood out. The best of those images, approximately 40 of them, are embedded below, so grab a coffee, scroll on down, and enjoy.
SRAM had a good weekend, winning every race, so we'll start there. These are not SRAM Red levers - they look to be the same as the Rival levers, but with a carbon fibre lever blade. Are they 'pro-rider-only'? Or is a new groupset coming soon? Everything else was the standard Red eTap groupset, so we'll have to wait and see. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Next up, Enve. We're not entirely sure what's going on here, other than the fact that most of the riders on UAE Team Emirates were using rims with no branding on them whatsoever. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
They did have Enve hubs though, so perhaps we're looking at a new rim, or perhaps they just ran out of stickers (yeah, right). (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Staying close to wheels but moving onto the rubber surrounding them, and it appears Schwalbe has a new Pro One, complete with a bright blue bead. Anyone else getting Jumbo-Visma's Swapfiets Tour de France tyre vibes? (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Rule number one when black-marker-ing out the model name on your brand-new tyres... (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
...Is to buy enough black markers so the ink doesn't run out half way through... (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
...Otherwise, beady-eyed nerds like us will spot them and - probably - upset your sponsors by sharing them with the world.
Fortunately for us, one team failed in their black marker duties, and we learned of two new tyres on the way from Continental. The image above shows a tyre called the GP5000 TT TR - presumably a time trial variant. This is the GP5000 AS TR. We can only assume AS stands for Another Sharpie. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Elsewhere in new-stuff news, Saturday's winner Lotte Kopecky was using this Roval handlebar, which although it's been seen before, it still doesn't officially exist. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Peter Sagan's choice of groupset was a bit of an unexpected one. Rather than opting for the latest-and-greatest 12-speed Dura-Ace groupset like 99% of other Shimano-supplied riders, Sagan was running Shimano's older 11-speed Dura-Ace shifters, an 11-speed Ultegra cassette, and a GRX gravel derailleur. Our assumption is that the rough terrain prompted the desire to use the gravel derailleur, and given that it's 11-speed only, the rest of the groupset was forced to follow suit. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Big chainrings were the talk of the town, thanks to Campanaerts' efforts, but most riders - such as Nils Pollitt here - stuck with more modest quantities of teeth. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Some riders swapped out to aftermarket aero rings, but even they kept it at 54T. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Campenaerts, though, went much bigger, and he went 1x.
How big? I hear you ask. To quote the video he posted to his Instagram the night before the race, it was a "big big chainring, very big." Or, to answer the question more helpfully: 62 teeth. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Of course, trying to ride up the Molenberg with a 62T chainring would be pretty impossible, so to replace the front derailleur, Campenaerts used a Classified Powershift two-speed hub, which connects to his shifters using a Bluetooth axle. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
One thing we noticed a lot of at Opening Weekend was new and unusual out-front computer mounts. Some focussed on absolute minimalism, while others were seemingly hyper-focussed on aerodynamics. No prizes for guessing which of those this one's targeted. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Likewise this one on Matteo Trentin's bike. It's from a brand called Alpitude, and it simply mounts to just one of the stem bolts. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
3D printed mounts were out in force too, with Arkea Samsic's Bianchi bikes having this integrated mount for their Wahoo computers that sits within the aero hole on their wild Bianchi's handlebar. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The maddest of them all, though, came at the women's UAE Team ADQ camp. It is 3D printed from titanium and designed to perfectly enshroud a Wahoo Elemnt Roam. I know what you're thinking; how do they mount it into the twist and lock bracket when you can't twist it?
The answer is found in a rotating plate on the underside. Simply rotate the plate outwards to its 'open' position, place your Wahoo into the cradle, and then twist the plate to its original position. It's ingenious, and the sort of unnecessary invention we cycling nerds live for. It was hinted at during the launch of the new Colnago V4Rs, but this still seems like a prototype or one off piece. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The computers themselves are often interesting to look at too. We're often curious about what riders have on their data screens, and they vary from wildly complex to pretty simple as shown above. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
...but we've never seen one as simple as this before. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Another thing we like checking out are the notes on riders' stems... (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
...They detail things like when to eat, when key moments in the race are, and in Tom Pidcock's case here, where the nearest airport is. (It's a windsock!) (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Movistar riders are not only told when to eat, but also what to eat. Also note the 17g 3D printed computer mount that we got hands on with while reviewing the new Canyon Ultimate(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Meanwhile, some riders' notes are written in a code that De Vinci would be proud of (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Nowadays most notes are printed and stuck into place, but a select few are still using the old-school pen on medical tape solution. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Iván García Cortina, meanwhile, just has a picture of, uh, himself? We're not too sure. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Now I think it's time to honour the mechanics. Firstly, these stickers are designed to be wrapped around the valve to make it easier to find, but as you can see here, the valve is nowhere to be seen. The reason, Uno-X tells us, is to create a 'halfway point'. When scanning around the rim to find the valve, they know exactly where it is if they spot this. Marginal gains don't only live in rider performance, you know. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Sometimes, a bit of glue - presumably Sugru or similar - is a mechanic's best friend. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Other times, it's the humble inner tube that lends a hand. This time, it's being used to keep Tom Pidcock's Di2 cable from being snagged in the event of a crash... (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
...and here, a piece of latex inner tube is keeping the race transponder chip in place. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Often, mechanics mark up components to make their lives easier. In this case, it's the Groupama FDJ mechanics and this 'JS1' means Jake Stewart 1, denoting his first-choice race wheels. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Other times, the notes are a little more detailed. Here, the Intermarche-Circus-Wanty mechanics have labeled up their tubeless wheels so they know when they were last topped up with sealant, and with how much. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Other times, the notes are a little more cryptic, as in this case with Jumbo Visma. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The temptation to take a peek inside Bora-Hansgrohe mechanic, Marek Bajfus' notebook was strong, but we resisted. We expect it was just endless pages of love letters to Cyclingnews anyway. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
This isn't the bike Annemiek van Vleuten finished the race on. She punctured in the run-in to the Molenberg just as the peloton was racing full gas. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The rainbow design never gets old, and this is a simple but stunning use of the colours (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
We spotted this of hers too, a bling, gold themed Canyon Speedmax CFR time trial bike (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
We also spotted Nils Pollitt's bike chilling against a wall. Bora were the first team to arrive at the start on Saturday, so had plenty of space to get set up. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
In other cool-stuff-news, here's the new SLF Motion oversized pulley wheel system used by Astana Qazaqstan this season. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Dear Wahoo, when are you putting this on sale? Signed, everyone. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
We also really like these brushed silver Newman decals found on the wheels of Intermarche-Circus-Wanty. Newmen is the component subsidiary of Cube, who sponsors the team with their fleet of race bikes. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
To close out, here's a (very) short story about recycling. Human Powered Health didn't see too many sponsor swaps as they transitioned from 2022 to 2023. One change they did make, however, was a swap from Time pedals to Wahoo's Speedplay range... (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
However, when they had their Felt AR race bikes painted up, Time was given a spot on the chainstays. For some teams, this would be enough of a reason to send it to the paint shop for a respray, while others would have asked for a new fleet of bikes for the new season. Human Powered Health, meanwhile, kept their bikes, kept their colour scheme, and just whipped out the black tape. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
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Josh is Associate Editor of Cyclingnews – leading our content on the best bikes, kit and the latest breaking tech stories from the pro peloton. He has been with us since the summer of 2019 and throughout that time he's covered everything from buyer's guides and deals to the latest tech news and reviews.
On the bike, Josh has been riding and racing for over 15 years. He started out racing cross country in his teens back when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s, racing at a local and national level for Somerset-based Team Tor 2000. These days he rides indoors for convenience and fitness, and outdoors for fun on road, gravel, 'cross and cross-country bikes, the latter usually with his two dogs in tow.
