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At only 22 years of age, Australian Neve Bradbury already has a string of GC podiums to her name, including a second-place finish at last year’s UAE Tour and the Tour de Suisse. On top of this, she also wrapped up the white jersey competition for best young rider at the Giro d’Italia.
In 2020, Bradbury along with compatriot Jay Vine won the Zwift Academy competition. For Bradbury, this meant a leap straight into the Women’s WorldTour with Canyon-SRAM. Since then she has proven herself to be a GC rider of the future. Even though she might have three years left in white jersey contention, 2025 marks Bradbury’s fifth season in the Women’s WorldTour.
Ahead of the Women’s Tour Down Under, we got to take a closer look at Bradbury’s Canyon Aeroad CFR. Canyon-SRAM has always been known for its bold and daring colourways for its team kit, and 2025 is no exception. For 2025 Canyon-SRAM has now become Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, however the team’s pink, orange and yellow “Harmonic Rift” colour palette has remained.
As a Canyon-sponsored team, Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto has use of both the Aeroad CFR or the Ultimate CFR. Although the Ultimate is still the bike of choice for true mountain tests, the Aeroad is now the bike of choice in every other circumstance.
The Aeroad underwent an overhaul in 2024, with the latest model making use of the UCI’s relaxed rules around aero profiles for frames. The head tube and fork legs have deepened over the previous model, whilst towards the bike’s rear, the seat stays, seat tube and seat post have all been slimmed down.
When compared to the previous Aeroad with the same cockpit these changes add up to a marginal claimed 1.6-watt saving, but along with the Aeroad refresh last year, Canyon also announced a new aero bar that can be fitted to the Aeroad; by swapping from conventional vertical drop sections to ones that flare inward, Canyon claims the flared configuration can save up to 14 watts at 40 km/h due to the more aerodynamic rider position.
Along with the team’s kit, the bikes of Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto consistently often rank highly as a fan-favourite design across both the men’s and women’s WorldTours. To see how it stacks up, check out all the bikes of the 2025 Women’s WorldTour in one place.
The paint scheme for 2025 looks to be the same as that used last year; in fact, this bike may be a holdover from the team’s 2024 service course (teams sometimes send past years’ bikes to TDU, as Canyon-SRAM did last season). But to date, neither the team nor Canyon has announced or shown an updated colour scheme, so it may not change for 2025. It features a pink to orange fade scattered with patterns and motifs that are said to visually represent a harmonic rift. This analogy symbolises the ebbs and flows of racing inside the peloton. Even though Canyon offers what it calls the ‘Pace Bar’ that features interchangeable drops, they are not seen here. Instead, the one-piece bar and stem used here features traditional parallel drops; still, there is a slight inward turn to the levers.The reason behind the missing flared bars that Bradbury is using Canyon’s ‘Pro Base’ cockpit. This has a different stem design that positions the bars lower than on the commercially available models. It is also unclear if these bars are adjustable or a fixed profile. Given the claimed 14-watt saving the Pace Bar’s flared drop attachments can provide it is surprising not to see them in use.A welcome addition to the Aeroad CFR cockpit is the use of a standard T25 Torx bolt to adjust the headset preload, removing the need for any special tools to perform a simple routine maintenance task.SRAM’s latest generation Red AXS is, unsurprisingly, the groupset of Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto. Bradbury is running 50/37-tooth chainrings which are paired with a 10-36 cassette, providing a full spread of gears for all the terrain of the Women’s TDU.Although shorter than you would have found in the peloton just a few years ago, these 165 mm cranks are not all that short given Bradbury’s 161 cm (5’3”) height. With SRAM offering 160 mm cranks, it will be interesting to see if Bradbury makes the switch to shorter cranks in time.The rear stays of the new Aeroad were put on a diet compared to the previous model, however the angular junction between the chain stay and seat stays has remained.Falling under the SRAM umbrella, Zipp provides the team with wheels. Bradbury using the 353 NSW with a 45 mm-deep wavy rim profile. The 353 NSW’s have a 25 mm internal rim width making them some of the widest in the peloton and their hookless design means that tyres 29 mm or wider must be used.Another of SRAM’s stable of brands used by the team is Time. These Team Edition X-Pro models sport the team’s livery on their underside.Yet another brand that is part of the SRAM family is Hammerhead. When the latest generation of SRAM Red AXS was released so too was the Hammerhead Karoo 3. The ‘bonus buttons’ now found on the Red shifters can be used to control the computer. The team has the choice of Zipp’s 353 NSW or 454 NSW, the former is used exclusively with 30 mm tyres as a result of its 25 mm internal rim width. The 454 NSW has a 23 mm internal rim width and, as a result, can be used with 28 mm tyres. With the 353 NSW setup, the entire team is said to be running very low pressures, with most riders sitting around the 45 psi (3.1 bar) mark.Another longstanding sponsor of the team is Ergon. This carbon-railed Team Edition saddle is a pro-only model that is currently not available to consumers, but looks to have a comparable profile to the SR Pro Women’s saddle.Number mounts are taken care of by a simple band-on clamp around the seat post.The bottle cages are provided by Elite in the shape of its new Custom Race X cages that are made of fibreglass rather than carbon fibre. The new lowered profile of the cage ribs allows for side loading, something that can be useful for riders using smaller frames.
Neve Bradbury’s Canyon Aeroad CFR specs
Frame: Canyon Aeroad CFR
Wheels: Zipp 353 NSW, 45 mm deep 25 mm internal rim width
Groupset: SRAM Red AXS
Chainset: SRAM Red AXS 50/37 with power meter (165 mm cranks)
Chain: SRAM Red Flattop
Cassette: SRAM Red 10-36
Brakes: SRAM Red
Tyres: Schwalbe One Pro 30 mm, tubeless
Handlebars: Canyon CP0049 Pro Base – 110 mm stem length
