Expect the unexpected: out of over 1000 participants, only 2% correctly guessed our fastest bike and best buy tip! But who guessed right, and who was able to get their hands on the coveted Rari Racing Club jersey? The answers, including surprising results and exciting insights, can be found here!

After our epic race bike group test in the Dolomites, one thing was clear: such an exciting test deserved an equally spectacular awards ceremony! Together with our Rari Racing Team sponsor Rapha, we put together an event that brought friends, readers, and key industry figures together over Aperol, pizza, and a touch of la dolce vita. One week before the release of the latest edition of GRAN FONDO, everyone gathered at our launch party in the Rapha store in Munich, eagerly awaiting the reveal of the test winner and best buy – the tension was palpable!

Hands up! Before the award ceremony, we asked the audience one question: “What do you think is the fastest race bike of 2025?” To our surprise, very few had the eventual test winner in mind. Specialized Tarmac? Plenty of hands shot up. Canyon Aeroad? Fewer, but still a decent number. Trek Madone? A handful of scattered votes. But when we revealed the previously top-secret test winner, only one hand went up – who happened to be the brand’s marketing manager. A perfect bullseye, you might say.

It was a similar story with our online readers: shortly before the launch of the new app edition, we asked our community to share their predictions. Over 1,000 readers cast their votes, but only around 8% correctly tipped the BMC Teammachine R01 as the winner. Fewer than 2% managed to guess the correct combination of BMC as the test winner and Specialized as the best buy.

Curious to know why the BMC Teammachine R01 impressed us so much that we crowned it the test winner? You’ll find all the details in our extensive group test – read on here!

A bike that impressed us across the board – the BMC Teammachine R01 is a well-deserved “best in test”!

The most popular choice for best buy? Many of you backed Canyon: with an impressive 493 votes, the Canyon Aeroad CFR Di2 was the clear favourite for almost half of the participants. And rightly so – the Canyon delivered an outstanding performance in our group test, narrowly missing out on being named best buy. In the end, however, another bike clinched the top spot in the race for best buy: the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8. Why did this great all-rounder ultimately earn our well-deserved best buy title? And which other bikes came close? Find out in our in-depth group test!

Category Absolute result Relative result (%)
Total participants 1,023 100 %
Most frequently tipped best buy
1. Canyon Aeroad CFR Di2 493 48 %
2. Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8 311 30 %
3. Cervélo Soloist 49 5 %
Most frequently tipped best in test
1. Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8 537 53 %
2. Canyon Aeroad CFR Di2 231 23 %
3. Trek Madone SLR 9 AXS 95 9 %
Most frequently tipped model for both best buy and best in test
Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8 235 23 %
Specialized correctly tipped as best buy 311 30 %
BMC correctly tipped as test winner (Best Race Bike) 79 8 %
Correct combination (BMC + Specialized) 18 2 %

Here’s a quick rundown of our survey results: over 1,000 participants cast their votes for the fastest race bike of 2025 and their top pick for best buy.

Specialized was a strong contender for test winner, with over 50% of participants placing the Tarmac SL8 at the top. In fact, 23% believed that Specialized, with the bike of the current Olympic champion, would sweep both the test winner and best buy titles – an exciting pick, but unfortunately, incorrect. Sometimes things turn out differently than expected!

One of the few who nailed the right combination was our randomly selected winner, Ulli. He correctly predicted BMC as the test winner and Specialized as the best buy, and is now the proud owner of a new Rari Racing Club team jersey. Congratulations, Ulli – and a big thank you to everyone who took part!

Congrats! BMC’s Marketing Manager, Fritjhof Hilgenfeldt (second from left), proudly accepts the coveted award for the best road bike of 2025. Also pictured (from left to right): team doctor and junior editor Jan Fock, GRAN FONDO founder Robin Schmitt, and his dad and “Directeur Sportif” Manne Schmitt.

Curious about the results of our group test? You’ll find all the details here.


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Words: Jan Fock Photos: Robin Schmitt