New UCI approved bikes from Cervelo, Orbea and Liv

Checking out the UCI's updated List of Approved Models of Frames and Forks reveals that new bikes are on the way from Cervelo, Orbea and Liv. 

Cervelo has had a new cyclocross bike called the FM137 approved. That's an interesting development in that it's the first cyclocross model that Cervelo has ever had added to the list.  

As of the start of this year, Germany's Team Sunweb moved from Giant to Cervelo bikes. However, team member Lucinda Brand, who recently retained her title as Dutch national cyclocross champion, has been riding this bike. It looks like a Giant TCX with the decals covered up. 

De gouden fiets van @lucinda_brand!#NKveldrijden #Huijbergen2019 pic.twitter.com/lUuf3IU7Pm

— WielerFlits Live (@WielerFlitsLive) January 13, 2019

It's likely that Cervelo's new FM137 is designed to plug this gap in the brand's range. That means it's likely to be a top-level race bike.

An updated Orbea Orca is on the way too – the ninth version, if you include the Aero and Disc models in your tally. The Orca is a highly respected race bike, our man Dave Arthur calling the Aero M20 Team version that he reviewed last year "a fast aero bike with great handling and decent smoothness".

The new Orca has no 'Aero' or 'Disc' suffix so it sounds like this is going to be a bike that focuses on light weight and stiffness. Orbea doesn't currently partner a World Tour team.

The Lapierre Pulsium Disc has been added to the UCI list. Lapierre had new disc brake Pulsiums in its lineup in 2018 so it's likely that this is simply an acknowledgement of the existing design rather than an updated model.

Giant has had a 2020 model year Avail Advanced Disc approved. The Avails are endurance bikes marketed under the women's-specific Liv brand – essentially a women's version of the Giant Defy – while 'Advanced' is a term that denotes a carbon-fibre frame in the Giant/Liv world.

Liv Avail Advanced Disc bikes already exist but have never been added to the UCI's approved list before. The fact that the list refers to a 2020 rather than a 2019 model suggests that it is a redesign that we're likely to see for the first time later in the year.