We got a close look at one Elite CX World Champ’s custom bike earlier this week, but Women’s champ Sanne Cant also has been racing the World Cup on her own rainbow-striped cyclocross bike – the latest Stevens Super Prestige. In fact, we’ve seen Sanne Cant racing a rainbow detailed Super Prestige before, she has won the last 3 World Championships after all (and the last 10 Belgian Championships). But this year’s race bike might be the best looking, with a more subtle rainbow contours design…
Stevens Super Prestige cyclocross bike of Sanne Cant
Like van der Poel’s Inflite, Cant’s carbon Super Prestige Disc Di2 cross bike isn’t actually a new model, being raced now in its third season by the pros. It’s no slouch though. Besides 3x Elite Worlds wins for Cant, it was also the bike then World Champ Wout van Aert raced last season & MvdP won his first Elite Championship on a prototype of this bike, too. If it ain’t broke, don’t mess with it, right?
But besides a fresh coat of paint with a more modern & minimalist rainbow motif, Cant’s new race bike does see some subtle updates to improve performance this season.
So what is new with Sanne Cant’s Stevens Super Prestige?
Sanne Cant is still racing a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9170 double groupset with a cross-specific 46/39T chainring combination and a 11-30T Dura-Ace cassette out back. But, her race bike is fitted with a thicker, custom Direct Mount rear derailleur hanger. The latest generation of Shimano Shadow road derailleurs all allow the optional elimination of their upper B-link for a stiffer installation & more precise shifting. But only a very select few road/gravel/cross bike makers actually supply Direct Mount hangers (not including Stevens). Cant’s rear derailleur sits in the same position with this setup, but is probably a bit stiffer. Plus, it gives her mechanic a nice spot for a zip-tie to keep that Di2 wire out of the way.
Up front we see that Cant has moved away from her old Easton EC90SL carbon cockpit, in favor of a newer generation. Her EA90 SL alloy stem is simple & straightforward with titanium bolts to shave grams, the handlebar is still presumably the carbon EC90 SLX bar, and the post is the lower spec carbon EC70 with Independent Saddle Adjustment, since the EC90 SL ISA version only became available a couple of weeks ago.
A non-driveside view at Cant’s bike spies the move to bolt-on thru-axles, and another look at her name-labelled & sealed natural silk 32mm FMB World Cup Slalom tubulars. It also catches a peek of the small blue sphere washers at the hub of her Cole T38 CX carbon tubular wheels that ensure perfect straight pull spoke alignment. Those proprietary Cole hubs also happen to be 6-bolt only, so Cant needs to run a separate rotor to get to her preferred 140mm size, since the premium Shimano 140mm rotors are centerlock-only.
The 140mm rotor substitution of choice is the latest from TRP. Their new two-piece rotor uses a vented alloy 6-bolt spider riveted to the stainless steel brake track to maximize stiffness & heat dissipation. Four recessed slots are then machined into the brake surface to help clear water & mud away from the pads for consistent braking in poor (read: cyclocross) conditions.
Cant managed a sixth place finish on her new rainbow bike at the Tabor World Cup, up from eighth a few weeks earlier in Bern. If the last two seasons are a good indicator, the Super Prestige will likely be a reliable tool for her to climb back up onto the podium in the next five World Cup races.
We’ve had quite good results on the same Super Prestige ourselves, using it as a muddy test mule for reviewing everything from power meters to carbon tubulars. And of course it was the bike that won the Elite Women’s race this weekend as well…
Another bonus World Cup-winning Super Prestige in Tábor…
Even though Cant didn’t win this past weekend on her custom rainbow-stripe bike, Dutch rider Annemarie Worst made sure that the Stevens Super Prestige got it’s win at the Tábor World Cup. Riding for 777.be, Worst raced on a team edition red & black painted frame.
She also had the same Dura-Ace Di2 drivetrain (down to the Direct Mount hanger with a zip-tied shift wire), but raced a DT Swiss carbon tubular wheelset that allowed the use of 140mm centerlock Dura-Ace rotors.
