Van Aert gets on a DH bike to test his technique

Wout van Aert and Jackson Goldstone star in one of the latest challenges after Red Bull took advantage of the Visma team's visit to California to put two of their greatest talents face to face. The Belgian cyclist, an icon of cyclocross and a star of the WorldTour, and the young Canadian, recent overall champion of the Downhill World Cup, accepted a challenge that has nothing to do with power or speed, a balance duel within a tiny space.

Van Aert and Goldstone face off in a balance challenge

The chosen format left little room for improvisation. Both had to maintain balance within a frame marked on the ground, barely the length of a bicycle.

Additionally, Red Bull proposed to swap bikes, forcing each one to adapt to the other's bike in a matter of seconds. Goldstone switched to Van Aert's Cervélo road bike, and the Belgian got on the Canadian's Santa Cruz V10.

 

 

 

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A radical jump from which Van Aert surprisingly emerged unscathed, despite the fact that, as everything suggests, it was the first time he had gotten on a downhill bike. Goldstone, for his part, also showed ease on a road bike that, although not his terrain, is part of his regular training.

The detail that added even more difficulty was the footwear. Neither wore cycling shoes, which complicated the handling of the automatic pedals.

The final result matters less than the spectacle, a bike swap between two talents that represent the best of their disciplines and have shown that technical control knows no labels.