As the bike sponsor for the most successful WorldTour team of recent years, it makes sense that Cervélo has largely concentrated on designing bikes that go very quickly over smooth tarmac. That changed somewhat in 2019 when, emerging from the dusty clouds of the off-road renaissance, the US-based company launched the Áspero, a speedy gravel bike which, with its dropped seatstays, subtle wheel cut-out and road-adjacent geometry, still very much had its roots on the road.
This was followed by the release of Cervélo’s all-out gravel race bike, the Áspero-5, in 2021. Compared to the previous version it was a touch lighter and came with more aerodynamic tube profiles, but this speed-focussed bike was also a big
