Cyclocross consistently produces top-quality talent on the road. Vos, Ferrand-Prévot, Van Aert, Van der Poel, Pidcock, Stybar. Heck, even Pogacčar has been national cyclocross champion. While victory in the world of ‘cross is exceptional in its own right, it also signposts the possible future stars of the road too. It’s probably fair to say Fem van Empel fits that brief.
She’s currently leading the World Cup standings, having taken six victories already and coming second in all the races she didn’t win but still lined up for. Her World Cup lead is even more impressive when you consider that she crashed out of the Val di Sole race and was stretchered off, effectively missing that round and the following race in Gavere. A star for the future? Scratch that, make it a star for now.
With the dawn of a new year comes, for many riders, the official swap to new teams and, with it, new sponsors. Fem has signed for Jumbo-Visma for the 2023 season on a two-year contract, and while this means she’s destined to hit the smooth stuff in the coming months, there’s still the immediate task at hand of rounding out the cyclocross season on new equipment.
New year; new machine
In 2022, Van Empel rode for Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal aboard a Shimano-equipped Ridley. For 2023 though, the move to Jumbo-Visma means hopping aboard the relatively new Cervelo R5-CX, now running Sram (Jumbo-Visma were also a Shimano team last year).
Has this drastic change held her back? No, not really. She won her first race aboard the new bike at the GP Sven Nys in Baal, so we thought we’d better take a deeper look at the custom blue steed of the European Champion.
Sram means one thing for cyclocross: 1x setups. The jury is still out as to whether it’s better or not for cyclocross, but Sram has been a player at the top level for many years now, kitting out the Baloise Trek Lions for several seasons, and it’s not exactly held them back. While we can’t see a chain keeper in the picture, we suspect it’s hidden behind the crank arm; we’ve seen the same setup on Wout’s bike.
The bike was designed in collaboration with both Wout Van Aert and Marianne Vos, and it’s claimed that they both requested a D-shaped seatpost. This provides a little extra compliance, but the main benefit is that, in a crash, the saddle remains facing forwards.
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