Mathieu van der Poel competed in the Paris Olympics Men's Elite Cross-country mountain biking test event wearing what looks to be an unreleased pair of updated Shimano S-Phyre mountain bike shoes.
The shoes appear very similar to the Shimano S-Phyre RC903 road cycling shoes, with the same vent on the front of the toebox and an updated lacing pattern.
Assuming these are the new Shimano S-Phyre XC903 shoes, they will replace the S-Phyre XC902, which was released in 2021.
The new mountain bike shoes feature the same double Boa dial retention system, with the upper Boa lace making one cross of the foot, while the lower Boa wire is routed through a retainer and laces multiple times across the forefoot. The design reduces the number of guides for the lower Boa wire from three to one.
There’s also the same trapezoid-shaped vent in the upper forefoot as seen in the RC903 shoes. In the road shoe, Shimano claimed the redesigned heel cup reduced twisting of the heel and hindfoot movement during hard efforts.
We haven't got a good view of the outsole, but an image posted to Instagram suggests the shoes have retained the four large lugs moulded onto the heel cup.
Beyond visual changes, as with the RC903, which lost 10g in weight over its predecessor, we’d expect the new XC903 to be a little lighter than the S-Phyre XC902.
The fit is also likely to have been updated – the RC903 shoes are considerably wider than the RC902, with the wide-fit option wider still.
Asked to confirm whether these are the new S-Phyre XC903s, a Shimano spokesperson said: “Shimano has partnerships with many professional riders... [and] we are constantly working and testing products that may (or may not) come to market at some point in the future". The spokesperson added that Shimano "won’t speculate on rumours about our products, whether they are in development or not".
