Lapierre Xelius
The Xelius and XR films place Lapierre's flagship bikes inside the inner theatre of the athlete, exploring Duke Agyapong's mental racing simulation and Amira Mellor's confrontation with her own shadow.
simulation as a hologram light
For Xelius and XR, I wanted to dissolve the bike into light - to enter the invisible space where performance begins. Inside a vast black box, we built an artificial horizon: a world of lasers, projections and sculpted beams that respond to the rider like a living architecture. The studio became neither road nor laboratory, but a suspended state between body and machine.
In the Xelius film, we move inside the rider’s consciousness. Lines of laser light trace the bike’s geometry as if mapping thought itself. A distant summit flickers into view; half data, half desire. What seems analytical slowly turns lyrical; what appears technical becomes intimate. The horizon is no longer a place in front of him, but a projection from within. In this luminous field, athlete and bicycle merge into one continuous act of focus: breath, steel and will aligned in motion.
next race: her own shadow
In the XR film, the opponent is no longer the mountain, but the self. The rider is always backlit, her body reduced to contour and motion, casting a shadow that seems to detach and race beside her. A luminous track of modern light cuts through the darkness, turning the studio into an abstract arena where presence and absence compete.
Intercut with thermal imagery, we move beneath the surface, as if witnessing heat, breath and pulse from within. Fear and drive become visible as temperature, as rhythm, as flicker. The shadow is not an enemy to defeat, but a mirror to outrun.
At the centre of this duel remains the XR bike revealed in sculpted, dramatic close-ups that emerge from darkness. Not displayed, but encountered. Rider and bicycle are bound in one continuous surge of energy: an intimate race where resistance becomes propulsion, and light becomes speed.
“Listen to my voice as I count from ten. No, the film is not a countdown. It goes far beyond that. Every second of it is a moment of deep connection with the bike. Every ride is one less excuse left behind. ”
“When laser light traces the bike’s contours, a holographic echo emerges, as if the training machine is revealing its inner geometry. A digital horizon slowly transforms into a photoreal mountain summit. In that suspended shift between data and dream, he takes a deep breath: pure mental and physical alignment.”
credits
| Direction | |
| Director | Ruben Van Leer |
| 1st Assistant Director | Thomas Rohde |
| Performance | |
| Athletes | Amira Mellor, Duke Agyapong |
| Camera | |
| Director of Photography | Ezra Reverda |
| Focus Puller | Paco Kumar |
| Gaffer | Stijn Jonkhart |
| Grip | Bjorn Schumacher |
| Photography | Rein Kooyman |
| BTS | Willems Kantine, Ilya Schulte |
| Art & Styling | |
| Art Director | Justin Jansen |
| Laser Design | Wes Broersen |
| SFX Lights | Jelle Steijnen, Robert De Vries |
| Motion Graphics | Tom Geraedts |
| Visuals Assistant | Thijs Visser |
| Styling & Make-up | Estefania Ter Heerdt |
| Post-Production | |
| Edit | Amber Hooijmans, Pieter Bokhorst |
| Compositing | Becanti Wijnbergh |
| Colorist | Wietse van Bezooijen |
| Finishing | The Compound |
| Sound | |
| Sound Mix | Evolsound |
| Sound Engineer | Alexander Nezhinskiy |
| Music | Rimer London |
| Production | |
| Producers | Philippe Avendaño Vera, Jolien Snyders |
| Production Company | Artillerie |
| Production Assistant | Siebe Stolk |
| Suppliers | SingelFilm, Het Raam, React, Beamsystems, Locatiewerk |
| Agency & Client | |
| DEPT Agency | Manuel Di Tolve, Dennis Gijsbers, Kimberley English |
| Marketing | Barry Schmits |
| Client | Accell Group, Lapierre |
filmmaker & media-artist
