Something is failing in cyclocross with the new SRAM groupsets

Tremendous anger in the ranks of the Baloise Trek Lions team after the dispute of the European Championship that took place a few days ago in Pontevedra due to the performance of the new SRAM Red XPLR AXS that they have on their bikes and which, according to the legendary Sven Nys, team manager, cost them some more victories.

Chains played bad tricks on the Baloise Trek Lions in the cyclocross European Championship

It is not usual for Sven Nys, manager of the Baloise Trek Lions cyclocross team, to criticize SRAM in the pages of the Belgian newspaper Het Niewsblad after the European Championship against SRAM, who supplies the groups to the team's bikes that are equipped with the recently launched Red XPLR AXS.

The specific problem lies in the chains that do not withstand the demands of the competition, having suffered multiple breakages since the start of the season. According to Sven Nys, "they fixed the problems, gave us new chains and the problem apparently disappeared, but not really. We have to investigate it. Chains cannot fail when a cyclist applies a lot of force on the pedals."

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Although at the European Championship, Baloise Trek Lions managed to win in the Elite category with Thibau Nys, mechanical problems prevented them from fighting for medals in the junior category with Arthur Van den Boer finishing in 21st place after breaking the chain; and David Haverdings in the U23 category had to settle for a 10th place after suffering the same breakdown.

Even Thibaut Nys himself had a chain drop, which got stuck between the cassette and the spokes, with two laps to go while his father Sven shouted at him on each lap passing through the pits not to put too much force on the pedals to avoid breaking.

A worrying problem for one of the top teams and star cyclist in the world of cyclocross as the frenzy of races in December approaches, so the margin of reaction left for both the team and SRAM is limited if they want to find a solution to this situation in time.

The Red XPLR AXS is the group with which SRAM enters the 13-speed transmissions, also incorporating a spectacular rear derailleur with UDH Full Mount installation that hugs the rear dropout of the frame and integrates with the thru-axle to ensure maximum strength. Additionally, SRAM has worked on achieving maximum lightness with this new group. Between the chain for 13 speeds, which obviously has to be slightly narrower, and the pursuit of lightness, it is likely that the problems suffered by Baloise Trek Lions come from there. In fact, this is something that happened to Shimano when they made the jump to 11 speeds.