Yep, Mathieu van der Poel’s handlebar broke, but it’s not what you think
The finish of Belgian mid-week race Le Samyn was quite dramatic, not so much because of the sprint victory of Tim Merlier, but rather because his Alpecin-Fenix teammate, Mathieu van der Poel, helped to lead out the field sprint with one of his brake levers dangling in the breeze.
Like the rest of the team, Van der Poel is racing on Canyon’s new Aeroad aero road racer, which admittedly has had some fairly major teething issues since its debut a few months ago. Although plenty of people have questioned the adjustable, multi-piece handlebar that Canyon uses on that bike, the problems thus far seem to be limited to the seatpost, and that handlebar design doesn’t appear to be at fault in the case of Van der Poel’s broken bar.
Broken handlebars are nothing new, of course, particularly with carbon fiber handlebars when crashes are involved. However, there were no reports of Van der Poel crashing during the race, and there’s also a visible crimp in the carbon fiber where the lever was once attached. And unusually, if you look closely at the remnants of Van der Poel’s handlebar, you can see that the lever isn’t just flapping about; there appears to be nothing attached to it at all.
Although there currently isn’t any visual or video evidence of when the ultimate failure actually occurred, the crimp suggests that Van der Poel’s lever was overtightened to the bar, and at some point — likely when his hands were in the drops — that side of the handlebar snapped in two right at the clamp point. As for the missing pieces, my guess is that they were torn off and discarded along the side of the road somewhere, or were so heavily damaged already that the shards simply fell away.
There’s another potential issue here. Shimano is very specific about the recommended tightening torque for Dura-Ace Di2 levers — 6-8 Nm — and also that the lever should only be used with the stock titanium band clamp. Van der Poel’s lever is clearly fitted with a different clamp band, and given that the bike I recently reviewed was similarly equipped, it seems that this is something Canyon is using at the factory on production Aeroads.
Could this have been a contributing factor? I, unfortunately, can’t say at the moment given that I don’t know the details on the clamp. I’m still awaiting further information from Canyon, but one would hope that if the company were to go to the trouble of using something other than stock that it’d be to make the installation more safe and secure, not less.
Regardless of the specific details here, what’s nevertheless clear is that this failure has nothing to do with that adjustable bar width feature that Canyon has incorporated into the new Aeroad, so we can all stop pointing fingers there. What’s also clear is that Mathieu van der Poel has once again shown himself to be a stellar bike handler given that he didn’t crash when half his handlebar fell off.
So what’s the moral of the story here? Manufacturer recommendations are there for a reason, folks. Heed them — or potentially pay the consequences.
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