Giant Bicycles (Taiwan) - Last October, Colombian cross-country racer Leonardo Páez rode his Giant XtC Advanced SL 29 to a second-straight world championship title. To celebrate that achievement, Giant is introducing a special limited-edition replica frameset that’s available for purchase.

The XtC Advanced SL 29 World Champion edition frameset is a superlight, responsive hardtail that’s engineered with Advanced SL-grade composite, Giant’s most premium frame material. This XC race machine delivers the highest stiffness-to-weight ratio of any hardtail mountain bike in its class, translating to ultra-efficient pedaling power and precise handling on the trail.

Each frameset is custom tuned for its size. The tube shapes and junctions are created with individual composite layup schedules that optimize stiffness and compliance for a smooth and responsive ride quality on XC terrain. This is the bike that Páez favors for fast XC terrain. “For hilly courses with a lot of climbing, I always prefer the XtC Advanced SL 29,” he says.

That was the case last October, when the 2020 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships were held in Sakarya, Turkey. The fast, wide-open course was 110km and challenged riders with long, hard climbs.

High speeds produced a large lead group in the first half of the race, which was whittled down to a small group of contenders including Páez on the last of three laps. The Colombian attacked from a group of five leaders and held his advantage to the line, beating second-place finisher Tiago Ferreira of Portugal by more than 2 minutes.

The special World Champion edition frameset features a unique design. It has a gloss black-and-white finish with bold splashes of blue, red, yellow and green that represent the colors of the UCI world champion’s rainbow jersey.

Páez, a 38-year-old Colombian who races for the Italy-based Team Giant-Liv Polimedical, is known to fans as “Lion Paez,” a reference to the strong, powerful mountain lions that are native to his home country. The chainstays of the frameset are inscribed with his #LionPaez nickname.

The XtC Advanced SL 29 World Champion edition frameset will be available soon in select markets.