We already told you about Victor Koretzky’s 450-gram tuned mass damper at this year’s Worlds and mentioned, almost as an aside, that his Specialized Epic was also running a stem angled so far down it looked like a mistake. It wasn’t a mistake. Pinkbike’s XC tech gallery from Val di Sole — the same gallery that caught the TMD — confirms Koretzky’s front end runs a Darimo stem at -30° of rise and 89mm of length. That’s not a fitment quirk. That’s a rider and a team deciding that XCO racing now rewards a lower, flatter, more aerodynamic position badly enough to build a whole cockpit around it.

He wasn’t the only one. Simon Andreassen’s setup — a 700mm handlebar paired with an OC one-piece stem measuring 75mm of effective length at -20° — showed the same idea at a slightly less extreme angle. Two different bikes, two different teams, the same conclusion: get the bar down and get the rider’s shoulders out of the air.

Quick Take

Trend	Negative-rise stems for a lower, more aerodynamic XC race position
Spotted	Pinkbike’s XC tech gallery, 2026 XCO World Championships, Val di Sole — Aug 28, 2026
Koretzky’s setup	Darimo stem, -30° rise, 89mm length, on a Specialized Epic
Andreassen’s setup	700mm bar, OC one-piece stem, 75mm effective length, -20° rise
Darimo stock catalog	-6°, -12°, -17°, -25° rise; 60-130mm lengths; ~66g at 100mm (IX2, carbon)
Also confirmed by	Cyclingnews’s Worlds tech gallery, which named “XC goes aero” a defining trend of the week
Fitment catch	-30° exceeds Darimo’s standard -25° max; steeper angles need a custom order and often a modified headset top cap
Best for	Racers who’ve already dialed weight and are chasing position, not grams
Skip if	You want an off-the-shelf part in a box — the extreme angles aren’t a stock SKU

Two Outlets, One Story: This Wasn’t a One-Bike Fluke

Pinkbike catalogs whatever’s bolted to the fastest bikes in the pits every Worlds, and most years that means fork lowers and tire casings. This year the gallery led with stems. Koretzky’s -30°/89mm Darimo got the headline treatment, and it sat next to a field of similarly low, similarly aggressive front ends up and down the XCO field.

Cyclingnews ran its own independent tech gallery from the same event and landed on the same conclusion without comparing notes: “XC goes aero” was the headline trend of Worlds week, filed alongside clever Di2 shifting hacks and the early moves toward 32-inch wheels that showed up in the same pits. Two publications, two separate teams of reporters, one week — and both walked away writing the same story about stem angle. That’s not a coincidence. That’s a trend that had already happened before either outlet showed up to document it.

What Is a Negative-Rise Stem, and Why Does the Angle Number Matter?

A negative-rise stem angles down from the steerer tube to the handlebar instead of up, and the number attached to it (-10°, -17°, -30°) is how far below horizontal it points. A steeper negative number drops the bar lower relative to the fork, flattening the rider’s torso and closing the frontal area punching through the air — the same logic a road time trialist uses, just applied to a bike that also needs to clear rock gardens.

The trade-off is obvious the moment you say it out loud: the lower the bar, the more weight shifts forward onto the front wheel and the less room there is to stand up and absorb a hit. XC racing has always been a low-drag discipline compared to enduro or DH. This is the front end catching up to that fact.

Why This Is Happening in XC Specifically

XC courses like Val di Sole mix real technical terrain with long stretches of fire road and grinding climbs where aerodynamic drag actually costs time — closer to a road race profile than a DH run. That’s a different calculus than a downhill track, where riders spend most of the run absorbing impacts, not fighting wind resistance in a straight line.

We’ve spent Worlds week writing about the sport pulling in the opposite direction on weight. Koretzky’s own bike carried 450 grams of dead weight in a steerer-mounted mass damper the same week a rival brand launched a wheelset that shed 300 grams to chase a podium. A negative-rise stem doesn’t cost grams — it’s a geometry change, not a weight penalty — so it’s not really in tension with either of those stories. It’s a separate lever entirely: not lighter, not heavier, just lower. That’s probably why it spread through the pits faster than anything on this list. Free speed, if your fit and your handling can absorb the change.

How Do You Know If a Negative-Rise Stem Will Actually Fit Your Bike?

Three things determine whether you can run one of these without a shop visit:

1. Your headset stack and steerer length. A steep negative angle needs room to point down without the stem body hitting the head tube or fork crown. Bikes built with a low, race-oriented stack have more room to work with than a trail bike set up tall for comfort.
2. Your top cap clearance. Riders and mechanics in the Val di Sole pits were running custom headset top caps with the leading edge cut or machined off specifically to clear the body of the negative-rise stem — a fitment workaround, not a stock part, and one more sign these builds are team-shop projects rather than catalog purchases.
3. Whether your current handlebar is aero-compatible. Darimo’s own stem is not compatible with aero-shaped bars that flare wider at the clamp — worth checking before you order, because the stem and bar have to be matched, not picked independently.

If any one of those three doesn’t line up, you’re not bolting on a -30° stem over a weekend. You’re rebuilding a cockpit.

The Stock Catalog Doesn’t Actually Go to -30°

Here’s the detail that matters if you’re shopping rather than just admiring a tech gallery photo: Darimo’s regular IX2 lineup tops out at -25° rise, offered alongside -6°, -12°, and -17° options, in lengths from 60mm to 130mm, at around 66 grams for a 100mm carbon stem. That’s a real, buyable part — not a prototype, not a team-only unit. It’s listed and priced like any other component.

Koretzky’s -30° goes past that. Angles steeper than the catalog max come from custom orders, which is a meaningfully different purchase than clicking “add to cart.” You’re waiting on a build, not shipping from stock. If you want what’s actually on the shelf right now, -25° is as far down as Darimo’s standard range goes — and for most riders, that’s already an aggressive change from anything they’ve run before.

Who Should Actually Try This

Racers who’ve already made their bike as light as they’re going to make it. If your weight budget is spent and you’re looking for the next place to find time, a lower front end is a legitimate lever that doesn’t cost grams to pull.

Riders on courses with real straight-line sections. A negative-rise stem does the most for you where you’re pedaling in a relatively static position for extended stretches — think Val di Sole’s fire-road climbs, not a tight, switchback-heavy singletrack course where you’re constantly repositioning anyway.

Anyone who’s already comfortable low on the bike. If you’ve spent time in a flatter, more stretched-out position on a gravel or road bike and it didn’t wreck your back or your handling, the adjustment curve here is shorter.

Who Should Skip It

Riders whose current fit is already a compromise. Dropping the bar further on a position that isn’t dialed just compounds whatever’s already uncomfortable. Fix the fit first.

Anyone without access to a shop willing to do the fitment work. Custom-order angles and machined top caps aren’t a weekend driveway job for most riders. If your local shop isn’t set up for it, you’re looking at a mail-order project with real lead time.

Technical, low-speed specialists. If your race calendar or your local trails skew tight and slow, the aerodynamic case for a flatter position barely applies, and you’re just giving up standover clearance and handling margin for nothing.

The Bottom Line

Two independent tech galleries from the same Worlds week landed on the same story without comparing notes: XC racing’s front ends are getting lower and flatter, and Koretzky’s -30°, 89mm Darimo stem is the most extreme example anyone’s spotted so far. It’s a real trend, backed by a real, purchasable product line — Darimo’s stock catalog just doesn’t go as steep as what showed up on the fastest bike in the pits. If you’re chasing marginal gains and you’ve already sorted your weight, a negative-rise stem is worth a conversation with your fitter. If your current position isn’t dialed, this isn’t the upgrade that fixes it.

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Reporting sourced from Pinkbike’s XC Tech Randoms gallery, Cyclingnews’s Worlds tech gallery, and Darimo. No test unit has been ridden by our team at time of publication.