There may no longer be specific bikes or suspension forks to help make the bone-shattering Paris-Roubaix cobbles more comfortable for the men's and women's WorldTour pelotons, but this doesn’t mean that team mechanics don’t have to make extra effort when it comes to the Hell of the North. Most modern road bikes are touted as all-round models with enough flexibility and compliance in the frame to withstand even the toughest terrain, but preventative measures are still crucial to stop punctures and mechanicals on jagged stones and ensure bikes are as efficient as possible.
At Roubaix this year, there was a clear focus on tyre choices and pressures as the most important variable to make a rider’s race as disaster-free as possible. The narrowest tyres we spotted were 28mm, but there were also riders going as wide as 35mm – a growing trend in recent editions of this race which is pushing tyre clearance to its very limits. It’s all about striking that balance between efficient rolling resistance on the tarmac sections of the race while also ensuring durability over jagged cobbles. In the men’s race, which featured a particularly long opening section on tarmac, riders who had the job of positioning before the cobbled sectors often used narrower tyres, while team leaders who were expected to be fighting for victory over the cobbles went wider.
Something else that is becoming more and more commonplace in long, flat races like Roubaix is 1x set-ups – Lidl-Trek were at the vanguard of this trend when Lizzie Deignan won the inaugural women’s edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes in 2021. Now, the likes of Visma-Lease a Bike and SD Worx-Protime have also followed suit, alongside a host of other WorldTour teams.
Rouleur spent the mornings of both the men’s and women’s editions of Roubaix in the pits among the teams to see what they were using to have the smoothest run possible over the pavé of Northern France. We spotted both some exciting new innovations but also some surprisingly old-school, analog cobble hacks which are relatively easy to replicate at home.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won this year's edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes using Gravaa’s KAPS tyre inflation system and the men’s Visma squad also had it featured on their race bikes. It uses a hub containing an inflator powered by the rotation of the wheels which allows on the fly tyre pressure adjustments via a trigger which is mounted at the end of the handlebars.
The Visma-Lease a bike rider commented after her win: “For sure it was super good to have lower pressure on the cobbled zones. I could see that we were much more comfortable, with less jumping there was more adherence on the back wheel. To be able to pump (up the tyres) again on the tarmac was super good. There were a few cases where there was quite a lot of tarmac. At the end of the race on the road to finish, I had four bars and that made a big difference."
Both the men’s and women’s Visma squads were also using tubular tyre glue to the external rim to help hold the tyres in place in case of a puncture.
Plenty of riders had opted to have their SRAM wireless blips to the bottom of their handlebars to allow them to change gear while riding on the tops – useful for keeping position while bouncing over the cobbles.
Both the AG Insurance-Soudal and Soudal-Quick-Step teams had hex keys strapped to the back of their seatposts in order to help with fast wheel changes on the move. The majority of teams had multiple mechanics and soigneurs situated on every cobbled sector, with some even roping in friends and family to help too.
Always known for their innovative tech solutions at Paris-Roubaix, Lidl-Trek had drilled their 13sp derailleurs to make them 12sp, using an extra limit screw to make an XPLR-road hybrid groupset. This is with the aim of ensuring smaller jumps between gears for a flat course while also getting the performance benefits of the XPLR groupset, made for gravel and rough road riding.
Lotte Kopecky’s bike had a special edition SRAM cassette reserved for world champions, which shimmered in the morning sun before the women’s race began.
Her spare bike featured wide 35mm tyres – the biggest we saw on show in the women’s race.
Self-professed “big dog” Josh Tarling was once again using a dinner-plate sized chainring for Roubaix – his race bike had a 62T chainring which will help with chain line efficiency.
Bahrain-Victorious’ Matej Mohorič had 35mm tyres on his bike which, although might have felt a little draggy on the opening tarmac sections of Roubaix, would have paid dividends when it came to puncture protection on the jagged cobbles. The team’s Merida Reacto frames offered more than enough space when it came to tyre clearance to run rubbers this wide.
Lidl-Trek mechanics had also used a nifty hack to try and keep the team’s bottles in place, putting rubber bands around the cages for extra security when the bike was being bounced over the pavé.
It was only 32mm tyres for world champion Tadej Pogačar, who finished second in the men’s event – he used the Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR.
While his bike wasn’t radically different from his usual set-up, the UAE Team Emirates rider’s Colnago features some neat personalised touches, including his logo being 3D-printed into the chainring.
Lorena Wiebes, who finished in third place in the women’s race, switched her tyres to the Specialized S-Works Mondo tyres in 32mm. These are said to provide better puncture protection than the team’s usual Turbo Cottons, and they were fitted to the Roval Rapide CLX II wheelset.
One of the riders from Israel-Premier Tech had put extra tape around his Shimano Dura-Ace shifters in order to aid grip while riding on the hoods, presumably to ensure security when braking and changing gears at particularly precarious points in the race.
Double-wrapped bar tape right up to the stem was common across both the men’s and women’s pelotons to try and avoid too much blistering on the hands.
Finally, these were the coolest stem notes we spotted all day from a rider on the EF Education-Oatly women's team.
