Unlike my mountain bike-riding companion, I was on a gravel bike, the new Trek Checkpoint SL 7 AXS Gen 3. You might be wondering why a review of a gravel bike is starting with such a ride.

So yes - Mathieu van der Poel is riding a gravel specific frameset, but this bike is far from the off-the-peg build that you’d find on the Canyon website. The Canyon Grail is positioned as the ...