Jay Vine gets new Canyon Ultimate repainted to match Vuelta polka dot jersey... but not everyone is impressed

The current wearer of the polka dot jersey at the Vuelta a España, Jay Vine, has taken to social media to share some footage and photos of his unreleased Canyon Ultimate complete with blue dots to match his jersey... which hasn't received complete universal praise. 

The update to Canyon's popular Ultimate all-round race bike has been a long time coming, and is perhaps the latest worst-kept secret in the new road bike rumour mill. We first confirmed that a revamped 2023 Ultimate would be coming back in March, and the bike broke cover for the first time at the Criterium du Dauphine in June. 

After Friday's stage, Alpecin–Deceuninck rider Vine excitedly posted on his Twitter and Instagram pages to share some footage of his Canyon Ultimate, fittingly to the tune of 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, with the team's mechanics shown diligently setting it up for him to ride in the coming days. 

looks like the Canyon team went shopping at Officeworks last night pic.twitter.com/nY8Sjfr6kB

— DiscoverySteve (@koouryan) September 3, 2022

While the majority of those commenting appreciated the new colourway and yet another teaser of the new Canyon Ultimate, it appears someone thought the team had done a last minute-dash to the Spanish equivalent of Rymans to transform Vine's bike.  

Another rather strong reaction pronounced the design "awful" and said the Ultimate had been "uterly [sic] destroyed", with the disgruntled fan adding: "Sorry mate, you’re an awesome cyclist but that design is just awful." 

Another made mention of the supply chain issues in the bike industry that have meant customers of Canyon and many other bike brands have been experiencing high wait times for their orders, saying: "Bike assembled in hours! And I've been waiting for a Canyon for more than 4 months."  

Polka dot-themed bikes haven't always gone down badly; in fact, someone liked the polka dot Ridley Helium SL given to Thomas de Gendt while he was briefly in the polka dot jersey during the 2016 Tour de France so much, they stole it at the annual Eurobike show that year. As far as we know the bike was never recovered, but Ridley did present De Gendt with a new one a few days later... 

Ridley Bikes

We've digressed... back to 2022 and in the race itself, unfortunately Vine's new paint job didn't inspire him to any of the heroics that have seen him win two Vuelta stages so far this year, finishing over 19 minutes down on stage 14 winner Richard Carapaz yesterday. 

The 26-year-old said this morning: "Tight twisty roads & a lot of motivated riders meant it was a battle for the breakaway, I tried m[y] hand at getting in but after fair few tries we decided today just wasn’t going to be my day. Another day in Pokadots and another good day in the office." 

What do you think of the new Canyon Ultimate, and Jay Vine's polka dot edition? Let us know in the comments as always...