Gravel Tease: Matej Mohorič won the 2023 UCI Gravel World Championships on an unreleased, but not hidden Merida Silex gravel race bike…
Slovenian road pro Matej Mohorič won the UCI Gravel World Championships on Sunday aboard an unreleased, but not very hidden Merida Silex gravel race bike. We caught up with him an evening after the race in Italy for an up-close look at the new Merida gravel bike. And a quick chat a bit about why he chose a proper gravel bike over some to the endurance road bikes you’d find in the gravel peloton.
At first, I thought Mohorič subscribed to the weird ‘turn your levers in’ crowd on his 40cm wide bars. Under his saddle was also a small saddlebag with a few CO2 canisters, a Muc-Off inflator and a small bottle of Stan’s tubeless sealant. Matej figured if he got a flat that he had to repair quickly on the roadside, he could squeeze in some extra sealant, stab a tire plug in, and blast some air back into it before the team cars would ever make their way to him.
I also not unsurprisingly that Mohorič was racing gravel on road pedals. If you go fast enough, and never put your foot down, who needs walkable pedals, anyway!Matej raced with this 140mm long FSA ACR stem with all of his cables hidden inside. And his team marked out where in the race they’d be standing roadside for a bottle hand-up, plus the one feed area where he’d get a musette full of snacks, too.
Of note, Matej raced with one of Merida’s removable QR axle levers in his pocket as it includes a 4mm/6mm Allen key for quick bolt tightening. But also a second one already installed on the rear axle to speed up a wheel change if needed. That rear one wasn’t in a very aero position either, based on the dust that accumulated during the race.
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