en
Road bike
It is often said that photographs should be kept in the archive for a while before being published – they need time to settle, and with time, they only get better. This is exactly one of those cases. In 2024, two photo sessions took place with Anita Antone, a four-time Latvian amateur champion in road racing. The first session – “The Flying Gravel Bike from De Rosa” – is already available in the blog section of our website.
The second session was dedicated to the De Rosa 838 road bike model. For this shoot, Anita also brought along her De Rosa Protos – the bike she was riding at the time – and it too deserved its place in a proper photo session.
And there it was – the camera had captured Anita’s gaze, directed as if beyond a curtain. And indeed, since then, many positive changes have taken place. Anita’s bright blue De Rosa PROTOS is now being used by a rider from the Latvian national junior road cycling team. Meanwhile, Anita herself now rides a De Rosa MERAK – a legendary road bike model once ridden by Romans Vainsteins when he became the road World champion in 2000. Back then, the frame was still aluminum. However, it was the carbon MERAK that claimed a stage victory at the Giro d’Italia in 2022 – Stage 8 – thanks to Victor Lafay of Team Cofidis.
The Merak is our racing bike par excellence, ensuring lightness, responsiveness and an extremely comfortable ride. This racing machine sports an ultralight carbon frame moulded with modern EPS technology, fully integrated cable routing for a clean look and an even more accurate ride. Merak is our bike, designed and developed to go fast on climbs, on the flats, on downhill rides, in Granfondo as well as in the most demanding stages of the World Tour by Team Cofidis. Merak 2022 Disc is the highest technology expression of De Rosa. Twenty years after the triumph of Plouay, De Rosa's Merak is still fighting with the knife between its teeth to take every road inch from its rivals.
With her MERAK, Anita has already achieved great success both in Latvia and across the Baltics. At the 44th Tartu Rattaralli, part of the 2025 UCI Gran Fondo World Series, she claimed an impressive second place in the national ranking for her age group. Additionally, she met the qualification standard for the 2025 UCI Gran Fondo World Championship, which will take place in Australia.
The author of this article also participated in the 44th Tartu Rattaralli, part of the 2025 UCI Gran Fondo World Series, riding the exact same De Rosa model 838 bike. In the competition, he managed to secure third place in the national ranking for his age group, as well as meet the qualification standard for the 2025 UCI Gran Fondo World Championship, which will be held in Australia.
These are our dreams — and this is how they come true.
The De Rosa bike family is growing, and the first successes have already arrived. You too can become a member of this happy family — because riding together is more fun, and the journey feels shorter.
Janis Karklins
passionate cyclist
The article was last edited on 16. June. 2025.
