It’s rare to see a pure road race bike line-up at a muddy cyclocross event. But that’s exactly what happened when Toon Aerts turned up on the Orbea Orca and entered the eye of the storm. The usual choice for the team is the Terra Race, but for this outing the decision was different—and the results speak loud.
The setup: Orbea Orca with serious off-road teeth
Orbea confirms the Orca frame, although conceived as a high-performance road machine, offers plenty of clearance at the rear to accommodate a 33 mm cyclocross tyre—even when the mud starts piling up. On top of that, the team fitted the Terra Race fork to the Orca’s front end. Why? Extra mud room where you need it most. That combo gave Aerts more freedom to run aggressive tyre widths and power through conditions where clearance and confidence matter more than aerodynamics.
Why this matters
Cyclocross is fights with terrain. It’s mud, roots, ascents, sprint sections, and a bike that balks at mud is already compromised. By running the Orca with a fork swap, Toon Aerts essentially crossed a genre boundary: using a road-platform to match or out-gun a dedicated CX machine. That kind of flexibility isn’t just interesting—it shows how bikes are evolving for multi-terrain survival rather than single-task dominance. You'll see the 2 images below show obvious differences between the orca and the gravel Terra race bike. Toon and the team have the choice
While detailed reports of Aerts’ victory are still trickling out, the backdrop was a brutal cyclocross challenge in mixed conditions. After winning this race, Toon went on to chose the Orca again for the Koppenbergcross in Oudenaarde. With saturated, off-camber mud and steep climb assaults. The conditions were savage. While we’re waiting for Aerts’ full breakdown of why he selected the Orca over the Terra Race, the fact that he made that call tells you something about confidence in the machine. Victor VAN DE PUTTE has one of his best races to date on his new Terra race and came in 4th, followed closely by Toon in 5th. So which was the better bike choice for these conditions?
Take-away
Don’t pigeonhole a frame. If you’ve got one with clearance and the right geometry, a bit of smart spec change (fork, tyres, maybe spacing) can make it work across disciplines.
Tyre clearance matters. The jump from 30 mm to 33 mm may not look big on paper—but in mud it’s the difference between flow and bog.
Fork design and mud-room up front is just as important as rear clearance when you’re diving into conditions that punish mis-spec.
When your bike can confidently pivot between road days and muddy war-zones, you’re getting serious value. At MULE Cycles we’re always digging for bikes that pull double duty—and the Orca’s muddy win is a high-water mark for that kind of thinking.
