EF Education-EasyPost pro bike: Archie Ryan’s Cannondale SuperSix EVO LAB71

One of the most eye-catching bikes in the pro peloton, Archie Ryan’s Cannondale was also packed with interesting tech, including Momo Design handlebars

19:16, Sunday 28th January 2024

Tom Hallam-Gravells

Online Production Editor

Archie Ryan's Cannondale SuperSix EVO LAB71

EF Education-EasyPost
- Nationality United States of America
- Founded 2003
- Team Principal Jonathan Vaughters
- UCI Code EFE
- Bike Sponsor Cannondale
Archie Ryan
- Team EF Education-EasyPost
- Nationality Ireland
- Age 22
- UCI Wins 5
Cannondale
Cannondale is a bicycle manufacturer based in Connecticut, USA. From road, gravel, electric and mountain bikes to equipment, clothing and components, the company produces a host of products for almost every type of cyclist.
Shimano
Shimano is a bike component manufacturer based in Osaka, Japan. The company is one of the industry’s most popular manufacturers and it makes up around three-quarters of the bicycle component market by value.
Vision
Vision is a cycling component company owned by Taiwanese cycling manufacturer Full Speed Ahead (FSA). Vision produces a range of high-end cycling and triathlon products with a strong focus on aerodynamic gains.
Vittoria
Vittoria is an Italian bicycle tyre manufacturer. The company produces over seven million tyres yearly for a wide range of cyclists, from road racers and commuters to BMX riders and mountain bikers.
Prologo
Founded in Italy in 2006, Prologo is a market-leading manufacturer of saddles and other bicycle accessories.

When scouring the WorldTour peloton for bikes, it’s hard not to be drawn to EF Education-EasyPost’s offering. The team are renowned for their brave kit and bike designs and they’ve remained true to that form in 2024 with what is the most striking bike in the pro peloton.

Even by the team’s attention-grabbing standards, Archie Ryan’s Cannondale SuperSix EVO LAB71 stood out to us at the Tour Down Under, not because of its design, but due to its small size. The Irishman is a new edition to the team for 2024, having swapped Jumbo-Visma's Cervélo bikes for Cannondale.

Luckily, the team kindly let us take a closer look so that we could learn more about the bike and its set-up. Here’s what we discovered.

Read more: Jonathan Vaughters: We want EF Education-EasyPost to be one of the best teams in the world

Small bike, large head tube

The bike in question is Cannondale’s climbing bike, although it has wandered firmly into the all-round superbike territory. That essentially means that it has packed both lightweight and aerodynamic features into one package, making it a master of virtually all tarmac terrains. So, while the team’s riders can also use Cannondale’s dedicated aero offering, the SystemSix, many now choose to use the SuperSix for the majority of races.

The bike had a deep-looking head tube

One of the main giveaways to the bike’s increasingly aero leanings is the head tube. Like on many modern bikes, it’s deep and narrow for aerodynamic gains, but the overall silhouette is exaggerated on Archie Ryan’s bike due to its size, which we estimate is a 44cm frame. Given the smaller proportions of the bike, the head tube takes on a much deeper-looking profile compared to larger sizes. In general, the bike’s smaller size stands out compared to the majority of bikes which tend to be much larger.

Cannondale took a holistic approach to the design

Beyond the aerodynamic head tube, Cannondale says that it has made the bike faster than its previous iteration in other ways too, including through the holistic approach to its design.

“The frame, fork, bars, wheelsets, and seatpost are engineered as an entire system, achieving aerodynamic efficiency that blows away a piecemeal approach,” the American brand explains on its website. “It’s elevated design driven by elevated performance. Details you’ll notice. Speed you’ll feel.”

While you may be able to feel the speed, you’ll probably also notice the hit to your bank account should the bike ever fall into your ownership, with the LAB71 version of the bike currently retailing on Cannondale’s website for $15,000 (US) - that’s one you may struggle to justify to a sceptical spouse.

Read more: Tour Down Under tech gallery: WorldTour equipment and accessory changes 2024

Cannondale and Momo collaboration

Ryan's bike had the SystemBar

Unlike the majority of the team who use a Vision and FSA combo, Archie Ryan’s bike had a Cannondale SystemBar one-piece bar and stem. An integrated set-up is nothing new in the WorldTour peloton but Ryan’s looked especially sleek.

The bars were designed in collaboration with motorsport experts Momo Design and the result, according to Cannondale, is “the most evolved cockpit a road bike has ever seen”. While we can’t confirm its performance credentials, it definitely looks good.

FSA and Shimano

A Shimano Dura-Ace groupset was paired with a FSA Powerbox crankset

14 of the 18 WorldTour teams use Shimano’s Dura-Ace groupset and EF Education are one of those, except they do things a little differently with an FSA Powerbox crankset. These have in-built power meters and Ryan had a 54/40t set-up, as is now common.

It was joined by a common 11-34t cassette.

Read more: 2024 Men's WorldTour bikes: A guide to the bikes, groupsets, and tech of the top-tier teams

Vision completes build

EF Education are also partnered with Vision which provides many of the components on the bike, including the Vision Metron 60 SL wheels. There are shallower options in Vision’s line-up but we encountered Ryan’s bike ahead of stage 1 of the Tour Down Under which didn’t feature too much climbing and ended in a sprint. In this scenario the aero advantage of the deeper wheels probably out-weighed the lighter weight of the shallower option.

Vision Metron 60 SL wheels

They were joined by the popular Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres in a 28mm width. If you’ve gone to so much effort designing your bike, you might as well go all-out, so it was pleasing to see many of the team's riders using pink Muc-Off tubeless valves that match the overall colour scheme. On Ryan's bike it was only the valve screws that were pink.