Marianne Vos’ World Championship-winning Giant TCX Advanced with Shimano R785 Di2 and Hydraulic Disc Brakes, Rotor Q rings. © Anton Vos
After Worlds, seven-time World Champion Marianne Vos headed home, but luckily, we grabbed a few photos from her brother Anton Vos of her World Championship-winning carbon fiber Giant TCX Advanced. [See also: 2014 World Champion Zdenek Stybar’s Winning Specialized Crux cyclocross bike profile]
We’ve given the Giant TCX Advanced a fair amount of press, from the Adam Craig prototype we first saw at Sea Otter 2013 to the official unveiling last summer. At Sea Otter, we correctly guessed Giant was lowering the bottom bracket from the sky-high height on the seatmast model we reviewed in Issue 17, but Vos’ bike is slightly different than production models, and even prior to this model, the perpetual World Champ rode a custom version.
According to Giant, the latest iteration of the TCX includes “Asymmetrical chainstays to provide optimal power transfer, and the D-Fuse composite seatpost for compliance.” The bike is disc-specific, and Giant boasts that the frameset weighs in at under 1050 grams. The production model features a thru-axle front fork, but Vos’ eschews the mountain bike standard for standard quick release wheels that allows her to use the CX75 hubs.
Shimano’s new carbon tubular disc wheels with CX75 disc hubs and Dugast Rhino tubulars tires, on Marianne Vos’ Worlds-winning bike. © Anton Vos
Noteworthy features on the bike include early versions of the Shimano R785 Di2 levers and R785 hydraulic disc brakes [see our interview with Lars Van der Haar on getting them for the season in Issue 23]. It’s interesting to note that Vos uses the heavier R785 calipers, while Sven Nys instead uses the R785 levers paired with the lighter M985 XTR mountain bike calipers.
Shimano Dura-Ace 9070 Di2 derailleurs handle shifting. Shimano actually handles almost all the component duties, right down to the wheels, which are Shimano road disc tubular wheels, with a 35mm deep carbon rim paired with the new CX75 disc hubs. The wheels are dressed with Dugast Rhino 33mm tubular tires—Vos has always ridden Dugast and elected to use the Small Bird tread for Worlds in Kentucky last year.
Her crankset choice includes a 172.5mm long 11-speed Shimano Dura-Ace 9070, paired with 46/38 Rotor Q rings. Out back, an 11-28 cassette in the rear. 172.5mm may sound long for a rider of Vos’ height, but it’s shorter than the 175mm cranks Katie Compton chooses. Heavily modified Shimano XTR M980 pedals complete the Shimano-oriented build. Vos’ pedals are remarkably similar to the pedals Sven Nys rode this season that we were the notice at Cross Vegas 2013.
Perhaps the most interesting part of Vos’ bike are her chainrings. The Dutch World Champ has been a long-time Rotor athlete, enjoying a relationship that started when she first began racing. “It started off really grassroots,” Rotor explained to Cyclocross Magazine. “That was just over eight years ago. Marianne was a young girl, she was still a junior in the Netherlands, and one of our friends knew Marianne, she was racing for Van Tuyl, which was a small custom bike manufacturer in the Netherlands, and we threw on the ’cross rings, and she won that race. And after that, she just kept on winning and winning.”
That could be considered an understatement.
Dura-Ace 9070 paired with Shimano R785 levers, Q-Rings, and modified M980 XTR Pedals
What attracts Vos’ to the oval-shaped rings (not to be confused by the much-maligned Biopace rings)? Rotor reports, “She said the one thing she loves most about them was that she would get ahead of other competitors at every technical section.” Her race at the 2014 World Championships certainly doesn’t contradict that report. Rotor further explains, “So at a sand trap that people couldn’t get through she would plow her way through. The really steep crest of a dike that people would have to hop off on, she would ride over it and found that that technical advantage was what really set it apart.” We’ve been riding the Rotor Rings on a 3D+ crankset. Stay tuned for our review.
Giant also has a TCX women-specific version of the bike, in aluminum, and we reviewed it back in Issue 22.
Marianne Vos’s Giant TCX Advanced Bike Specs:
- Frame: TCX Advanced
- Stem: Giant Connect OD2, 85mm/ -30 degree
- Handlebars: Pro Vibe Compact 40cm
- Front brake: Shimano R785 Hydraulic Disc Brake
- Rear brake: Shimano R785 Hydraulic Disc Brake
- Brake levers: Shimano R785 Di2 hydraulic disc
- Front derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9070
- Rear derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace DI2 9070
- Cassette: Shimano Dura-Ace, 11-28
- Chain: Shimano Dura-Ace, 11spd
- Crankset: Dura-Ace 9000 cranks w/ 46/38 Rotor Q rings, 172.5mm
- Pedals: Shimano XTR M980, heavily modified, similar to Sven Nys’ pedal
- Front Wheel: Shimano road disc tubular carbon rim, 35mm deep, CX75 hub
- Rear Wheel: Shimano road disc tubular carbon rim, 35mm deep, CX75 hub
- Front tire: Dugast Rhino tubular, 33mm
- Rear tire: Dugast Rhino tubular, 33mm
- Saddle: Fizik Arione
- Seat post: Giant TCX Advanced
- Weight: 17.6 pounds with pedals
