Small, stealthy, clever hacks – Alison Jackson’s Cannondale SuperX Lab71 from Gravel Burn

Alison Jackson has a soft spot for Africa. The Canadian never left the continent after the UCI World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, and travelled to South Africa via Ethiopia to commence her off-season training and preparations for Gravel Burn. The EF Education-Oatly rider came into the race as one of the big names but was quick to point out at the pre-event pro rider press conference that she was at the race to have a lot of fun.

“After the World Championships, I took my off-season, so this is my build back up,” said the Classics specialist. “I’m really fresh but maybe not so fit – so maybe at the end of the week, I’ll see if I come into some form.”

She wasn’t afraid to roll the dice. She got stronger as the week unfolded – even getting into some moves and animating the racing with some trademark attacks on stages 6 and 7, in the hope of bagging a good result to round out a solid seven days of racing. While she has access to some of the best gravel bikes from Cannondale, she elected to ride the Cannondale SuperX Lab71 for Gravel Burn. Of all the brands at the race, the SuperX was one of the rarest models on display, especially in Lab71 guise.

At 1.68m (5ft 6in), Jackson rides a size 51cm SuperX, which corresponds to a small on Cannondale’s sizing chart. Despite being adorned in chromed-out Lab71 decals, her SuperX is relatively inconspicuous in the looks department, utilising a stealthy Tungsten Blue frameset-only colourway but featuring some high-end componentry and clever hacks that helped deal with the choppy and unforgiving terrain. While some of her rivals employed burly setups with wider rubber, front suspension, and mullet gearing, Jackson pretty much ran an off-the-shelf build.

The bike is built around a mix of Shimano Dura-Ace/GRX Di2 components, including a Dura-Ace cassette, brakes, and shifters, and a GRX rear derailleur. More importantly, it combines a sponsor-specific 50-34T FSA chainrings, complete with Power2Max power meter, with an 11-34T cassette for a wide range of gearing to suit almost all terrain situations.

As a Lab71, the SuperX is constructed from Series 0 carbon fibre, a layup claimed to be 40g lighter than the Hi-Mod equivalent. While Jackson eschewed on-bike storage, she did opt to fasten a spare quick-link to the rear brake hose and tape some tyre plugs to the underside of her number board.

As for the touchpoints, there’s a MOMO Cannondale System R-One, replete with stage route profile sticker, a Fizik Vento Argo saddle and Shimano XTR pedals. Rolling stock is handled by a pair of FSA carbon gravel wheels wrapped in Vittoria Terreno T50 45mm tyres, front and rear. As a Muc-Off-sponsored team, her rims feature Big Bore Hybrid Tubeless Valves for max inflation and zero clogging thanks to the ‘Straight through’ internal design.