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In part one of our Roubaix tech galleries, we took a look at some of the head units, crazy watts, handlebars, saddles, and wheel choices at the Hell of the North.
In part two, we will take a closer look at tyre choices, drivetrains, and the various aero bikes teams rode to mixed success.
Let’s pick up where we left off in part one with tyres. While I never need an excuse to talk about tyres, the tyres and pressures are rarely as important as at Roubaix. Walking the start areas, you’ll find mechanics checking and double-checking tyre pressures right up until start time. Here, the SD Worx-Protime mechanic uses a good old-fashioned pump to check Kopecky’s tyres one last time in the few minutes between the World Champion signing on and rolling out for the start. Most teams are now using a combination of mini-compressors or inflators of various shapes and sizes… … combined with pressure gauges for accurately setting exact tyre pressures. Of course, the trend of late has been towards wider and wider tyres, with 32 mm now the norm at Roubaix. But we spotted these 27 mm Challenge Strada TLR tyres on the bikes of Continental team Winspace, by far the narrowest tyre we saw at either race and also a rare sighting of Challenge tyres at a WorldTour race. This was also my first sighting of a Hyper Lun wheelset in a WorldTour race: probably something we can expect to see more of in future. Winspace weren’t the only team with some seemingly older tyre choices. Astana Qazaqstan’s Gleb Syritsa started the race and made the breakaway on these previous generation Vittoria Corsa tyres, rarely, if ever, seen in the pro peloton for well over a year at this point. Rare in the pro peloton are Continental’s GP 5000 AS (All Season) TR, but with claimed benefits including “more wet grip” and enhanced puncture protection, they make sense for Roubaix, especially if the pave had been as wet as it was during teams’ recon rides earlier in the week. Intermarché-Wanty raced with the 32 mm AS TR tyres. But Bahrain Victorious went all in, opting for the same GP 5000 AS TR tyres in this huge-looking 35 mm width. Again, had it been wet, these tyres might have proved a masterstroke, but may have proved sub-optimal at best in the mostly dry and incredibly fast conditions riders encountered on Sunday.The more commonly used in race settings Continental GP 5000 S TR was by far the most well-represented tyre in the peloton. UAE Team ADQ was among the many teams running Conti’s racing tyre but one of the few to choose 30 mm widths. Most were opting for the 32 mm variant, including the UAE Team Emirates men’s team with the same wheel and tyre suppliers. That tyre/size choice also went for the riders over at Groupama-FDJ, who rode 32s on Dura-Ace rims and used a nice visible red marker to identify which rider each wheel set belonged to and when they last changed or topped up the sealant. We’d spotted TotalEnergies using the now prohibited 28mm tyres on 25 mm inner rim widths during our pit walk podcast at Scheldeprijs, but the team had switched all the way up to 32s come the start in Compiègne on Sunday. Lotto DSTNY were one of the few men’s teams to opt for 30 mm tyres, this time on the Zipp 303 Firecrest rims Zipp told us it advises its teams to use for the cobbled classics and gravel races. Visma-Lease a Bike opted for an interesting tyre combination, with Vittoria’s 32 mm Corsa Pro tyres on their front Reserve 40 rim …Paired with Vittoria’s 32 mm Corsa Pro Control at the rear. The Control is another wet or slippy conditions-specific take on a road racing tyre, again with claimed benefits including increased grip and puncture protection. Speaking of Visma-Lease a Bike, the team again lined up on 140 mm front and rear SRAM rotors. We have a closer look at Marianne Vos’ Cervelo Soloist in an upcoming bikes of Roubaix gallery.I only found two (three if Cofidis men and women’s teams are counted separately) teams running tubulars all weekend: Both Cofidis teams raced on 32 mm Michelin tubs and Liv AlUla Jayco rode on 30 mm Vittoria Corsa Control tubs. The Bingoal WB team is using Hutchinson tyres, another supplier seldom seen in WorldTour races these days. The Storm is Hutchinson’s all-conditions style compound. Much of the talk in the start area on Sunday morning was of Josh Tarling’s monster 62-tooth chainring. Our guess is this is a Digirit chainring, but arguably more interesting is the inclusion of what appears to be an Alugear Aero Cover for maximal marginal gains. This cover fills the gap between chainrings and the Shimano crank spider.Ben Turner also went big and went 1X with this 60-tooth Shimano Dura Ace chainring. Shimano of course, doesn’t make a 1X Dura-Ace chainring, and this doesn’t appear to be a narrow/wide prototype development chainring of some sort, so one must assume Turner was putting a lot of faith in that K-Edge chain guide to ensure chain retention over the bumpy cobbles on a 2X chainring setup for 1X.Turner was committed, as his spare bike also featured the same setup. It wasn’t just big chainrings on the Ineos bikes, the team also used 32 mm tyres which really pushed the Dogma F’s tyre clearance limits. The team could have had serious mud and clearance concerns had it been a muddy Roubaix where 32 mm or even larger tyres would most likely have proved the optimal choice.Switching focus to on-body tech for a second, CORE sensors are still a common sight in the peloton. The body temperature sensors are non-invasive and provide a continuous body temperature reading. We covered why that’s useful in an episode of Performance Process dedicated to heat training and cooling earlier this year. Back to bikes now: the Ineos boys weren’t the only riders on big chainrings, Mads Pedersen’s Trek Madone and Rudiger Selig’s Wilier had 56-tooth chainrings fitted. As mentioned in our bikes of the Roubaix podium gallery, most teams were running practically standard setups for Roubaix this year. One thing that was clear is that the aero bike is the new Roubaix. We have two bike-dedicated galleries coming up later this week, taking a closer look at some bikes of the Roubaix pelotons, but before that, we’ll use this space to look a a selection of other team bikes on show on Sunday. Team Jayco AlUla raced on a fleet of Giant Propel Advanced SLs with Cadex Ultra 50 tubeless and 30 mm Vittoria Corsa Pro Controls front and rear.Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team raced Scott Foil RCs with 32 mm Corsa Pro tubeless tyres on Zipp 303 Firecrests. But their soigneur bikes caused the most stir in the paddock on Sunday morning. The Gravel Addicts with SPD pedals had all sorts of people wondering who was riding these two bikes. Turns out these were team helper and soigneur bikes for getting from the car to feed zones. Alberto Bettiol was back on his regular-paintjob Cannondale SuperSix Evo and had the power meter back, having ditched it for the Tour of Flanders. He did still ditch the aero kit he so successfully utilised to win Milan-Torino, even opting for a regular jersey and shorts for the fastest Roubaix ever. I’m considering the possibility that Bettiol is simply trolling all the watt-weenies and modern WorldTour racing 🙂 The only Roubaix-specific adaptations to Groupama-FDJ’s fleet of Wilier Filante SLR bikes were the addition of 32 mm tyres mentioned earlier and double-wrap bar tape for those who preferred the extra cushion the extra bar tape provides.Other than the obligatory larger tyres, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale’s Van Rysel RCRs were set up identical to how they run them the rest of the year. Mathias Norsgaard had this stealth Canyon Aeroad, while the rest of Movistar raced with the standard team blue colourway. Norsgaard’s frame is the slightly updated Aerooad featuring a revised seat post clamp now located on the top tube and minor updates to the head tube and bottom bracket area.Ward Vanhoof of Team Flanders-Baloise is racing this Eddy Merckx bike with a retro-inspired paintjob for the entire season.Visma-Lease a Bike raced on Cervelo Soloists. Grischa Nierman told Escape Collective this was because the Soloist is more compliant for a smoother ride over the pave. Previously the team had Cervelo’s Caledonia at Roubaix, but the Soloist now offers an in-between that and the S5, with a geometry closer to that of the S5’s than that of the Caledonia.
Check back soon for our upcoming bikes of Paris-Roubaix galleries.
