The new year brought a new team for Quinten Hermans and Corne van Kessel, who broke from the Telenet Baloise Lions to join the new Tormans CX Team run by the Circus – Wanty Gobert road program.
The move to a new team meant a switch to a new bike as well. Circus – Wanty Gobert is sponsored by Germany’s Cube Bikes, and the duo is now riding the company’s Cross Race C:62.
We got the chance to take a closer look at Hermans’ Cube Cross Race over the weekend at World Cup Nommay.
Quinten Hermans’ Cube Cross Race
Cube Bikes was founded in the early 1990s in Waldershof, Germany. The company has been a sponsor of the Wanty Gobert Pro Continental road team that became Circus – Wanty Gobert this calendar year. Although the Cube Cross Race is new to top-level cyclocross, the bike has been around for a while now.
Hermans is riding the Cross Race C:62 model. The C:62 designation is for Cube’s “Advanced Twin Mold” carbon technology. The bike also comes in alloy models that are also called the Cross Race.
One aspect of the Cross Race’s design that stands out is the rear cables are internally routed at the head tube and not into the down tube like many other carbon cyclocross bikes. The company claimed one of the reasons for the design was to save weight by not having to reinforce the down tube.
The company does not list a frame weight, but the highest-end SLT model with SRAM Red eTap AXS and carbon wheels weighs a claimed 17.0 pounds, which is pretty svelte.
The flat top tube features a rounded junction into the seat stays reminiscent of the Canyon Inflite and Wout van Aert’s now-vintage Colnago Cross Prestige.
The down tube is boxy, like a cube extruded into a prism. (high school geometry, FTW)
The rest of the Cube Cross Race C:62 is modern, with 12mm thru-axles, flat mount calipers and a full carbon fork.
After switching to SRAM Red eTap AXS this season with the Lions, Hermans is back on the more-familiar Shimano Dura-Ace on his Cube. At Nommay, he was running a Dura-Ace R9100 crankset with the 46/39t pro-only rings we frequently see Euro pros run.
His derailleurs were Dura-Ace R9150 Di2 front and rear, and he ran an 11-28t cassette.
Hermans’ wheels were carbon tubulars from Fulcrum, an Italian subsidiary of Campagnolo. His 40mm-deep Speed 40T DB tubulars featured Fulcrum hubs with CULT ceramic bearings.
When we saw his bike the day before the World Cup, Hermans had 700c x 33mm A Dugast Typhoon intermediate treads mounted.
Hermans used stock parts from Germany company Newmen in his cockpit. He ran a carbon Advanced Wing Bar with an Evolution 318.4 stem.
In the rear, he swapped in a carbon Ritchey WCS 25mm-setback seatpost and a Prologo Zero saddle with carbon rails. Shimano XTR M9100 SPD pedals rounded out Hermans’ contact points.
For a closer look at Hermans’ Cube Cross Race C:62, see the photo gallery and specs below.
Photo Gallery: Quinten Hermans’ Cube Cross C:62 Race