Unbound Bike Check: Mattia De Marchi’s Basso Palta with Prototype Campagnolo Drivetrain and Pirelli Tires

Mattia de Marchi needs no introduction, at least in Europe. The three-time winner of the Traka 360 finished fifth in the 2024 Unbound 200, however, showing he has the chops to keep up with the best riders at Unbound. This year, he’s taking this Basso Palta to Unbound Gravel 200 this year.

What’s the difference between this bike and the others? He appears to have a set of prototype tires from Pirelli, as well as a 13-speed wireless Campagnolo groupset on his bike, among many other things.

Here’s what we can see so far.

Campagnolo is working on something big

The elephant in the room has to be the Campagnolo groupset, which we first saw at the Giro d’Italia. We’re guessing what’s here belongs to a new high-end Campagnolo groupset, at least based on the obvious branding on the cranks.

The shifters might be the most interesting part. Gone is the two-step paddle that comes on the current set of Campagnolo Super Record Wireless levers. Replacing it is a slight lever in the same position as Campagnolo’s old mouse ear-style levers on its mechanical drivetrains.

There is, however, another round button up toward the top of the hood that comes in addition to the ‘M’ button on the existing Campagnolo. It remains to be seen what that button is there for, but hopefully it acts as an auxiliary button to control shifts or your bike computer, similar to what Shimano and SRAM have on their levers.

The rear derailleur looks different than before, too. The upper pulley cage itself is bigger than before, with a big silver bolt on the outside that we’ve yet seen before on Campagnolo. It’s hard to make out, but in person, we were able to determine that the word says ‘clutch’ on it. No wonder Mattia is able to run a 2x drivetrain in an event as tough on components as Unbound Gravel.

The rear cassette features 13 gears out back. This matches Campagnolo’s existing Ekar drivetrain and is one more cog than the 12-speed drivetrain of the existing Campagnolo road groupsets.

While it’s not immediately obvious what gearing is up front, De Marchi tells us he prefers 48/32T chainrings for races like Unbound. Hard to believe he’d do anything else here.

Its also worth mentioning that on its website, Basso warns that the Palta’s 45 mm tire clearance is only guaranteed with gravel groupsets. Road bike groupsets are to follow manufacturer’s suggested clearance, says the website. Could that mean that this front derailleur is designed to clear a wider gravel tire, or is there something more going on?

Are there new Pirelli tires coming too?

The Pirelli Cinturato Gravel tire lineup is expansive, offering several tread patterns, widths, and even colors to suit your terrain. It sure looks like Mattia De Marchi is riding yet another Pirelli gravel tire here at Unbound 2025.

We would guess that this tire also belongs to the Cinturato Gravel family, largely due to the outer tread pattern that appears to closely match the existing semi-slick Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H tire. We also guess that this is called the Pirello Cinturato Gravel RH based on the tire’s hot patch.

What’s different here, however, is a slick center tread that should help De Marchi’s bike roll a bit faster on smoother terrain.

More to come from De Marchi

De Marchi was in high spirits with a few days to go before the Unbound 200. He had perhaps the biggest top tube bag of all the pros I’ve seen, which he said he would use for gels, snacks, tubes, and some tire plugs.

The Basso Palta fits a 45 mm tire max, but there appeared to be plenty of clearance around these tires. De Marchi says he might switch to a 40 mm tire if conditions require him (read: lots of mud), but he seemed pretty intent on this tire setup as constituted.

While De Marchi generally prefers a 1x drivetrain, he tells Velo that the 2x gearing should help when considering the sheer speeds of the dirt roads of Unbound, so long as it’s not muddy.

Also, shout out to the custom paint scheme here, which Basso says is a ‘tribute to gravel’s rawest race.‘ This is said to be the first of the ‘ARTBound’ bikes. We think it looks fantastic.

Here’s the breakdown of Mattia De Marchi’s Basso Palta: