Alas, the mud has settled on one other epic Paris-Roubaix weekend. The ‘Holy Week’ is over, and though the rain steered clear, Roubaix was nonetheless handled to a rainbow show as each Lotte Kopecky and Mathieu van der Poel took victory of their World Champions’ jerseys. Cue the ‘double rainbow’ viral video.
As ever, Cyclingnews had a group of devoted reporters on the bottom following the race and browsing the paddock to hunt out any new tech. We’ve already introduced you the information that Israel Premier Tech would race aboard gravel bikes. We confirmed that the Specialized Roubaix would not get an look in its namesake race. We unearthed a mega-aero-looking new bike from the Uno-X camp, and we compiled two large tech galleries, protecting tech from the ladies’s race and tech from the lads’s race.
But because the hangover from the weekend’s chaos – and all of the Westmalle Tripel – wears off, some overarching tech tendencies start to rise to the floor. With each version of Paris-Roubaix, the world of motorcycle tech strikes alongside at tempo. For instance, tyres get wider, chainrings get larger, and if the previous two editions are something to go by, the common speeds get quicker.
But there are numerous extra tendencies and conclusions to attract, 9 in whole, in order that’s precisely what we have accomplished.
Women’s Paris-Roubaix tech is extra fascinating than males’s
In the times earlier than the occasion, I spoke with the Specialized S-Racing group who talked me by way of the tools choice course of that groups bear. It led to a narrative about Specialized riders ditching the Roubaix, however my largest takeaway was how the group and the model labored collectively to decide on the tools that might probably be quickest for the circumstances they’d face and the technique they’d. For instance, they stated that in 2023, SD-Worx used the Tarmac SL7 as a result of they’d fewer cobbles to cope with, whereas the lads went with the Roubaix, aside from Nils Pollitt who wished to get within the early breakaway.
This yr, the lads shunned the Roubaix and as a substitute used the Tarmac SL8, preferring to simply accept the detriment on the cobbles as a result of the true race was on the street; the race for place within the lead-up to every sector.
What that meant is that nearly ubiquitously, the lads used typical aero bikes with little in the way in which of cobble-smoothing hacks in addition to wider tyres, further bar tape, and infrequently a change of handlebars.
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Interestingly, regardless of SD-Worx taking the same method to the lads, the overall method to tools within the ladies’s peloton was considerably extra blended. The podium itself was an ideal instance of this, with the winner Lotte Kopecky on an all-rounder, 2nd place Elisa Balsamo on an endurance bike, and third place Pfeiffer Georgi on a no-holds-barred aero bike. Proof if ever we would have liked it that it is the rider, not the bike, that wins the race.
But the good thing about such a combination is that it is far more fascinating to nerd out firstly.
Aero is king, the ‘particular Roubaix bike’ is useless
Not a lot the aero bike, however aero typically. In years passed by, tech hacks at Paris-Roubaix have centred on making the bike quicker over the cobbles. This has resulted in riders utilizing bikes with wild cobble-smoothing hacks. Does anybody bear in mind Rockshox forks or the full-suspension Bianchi?
Now although, aero bikes had been extra prevalent than endurance bikes, and there have been as many hacks focussed on aero as there have been on anything. Cue Alexander Kristoff, whose new prototype Dare bike leaves little question as to its aero intentions. Also cue most SRAM-sponsored riders who all swapped to 1X with an aero chainring. And let’s not neglect Josh Tarling, whose Pinarello Dogma F was kitted out with a frankly bonkers 62T 1x aero chainring.
Cyclocross tyres at the moment are narrower than street
My esteemed colleague Will introduced alongside his trusty vernier callipers to measure the precise width of riders’ tyres, and the large takeaway was that if this had been a cyclocross race, most riders would have been kicked out earlier than the race started.
While the most typical alternative of tyre measurement was 32c, with the extensive rims obtainable in the present day, most measured wider. Lidl-Trek, for instance, had been working Prototype Pirelli tyres in a 32c width, wrapped round Bontrager Aeolus 49 gravel wheels. The precise width ballooned to 34.5mm. Beating that, nonetheless, is Fred Wright and his Bahrain Victorious group, who used the Continental GP5000 AS TR tyre within the 35mm possibility.
Cyclocross, an off-road self-discipline, limits tyres to 33mm extensive, and has accomplished so since July 1, 2010, when the restriction shrunk from 35mm. Will the UCI determine to loosen up that rule as soon as once more, or will they select to retain the 33c rule so as to guarantee differentiation between cyclocross and gravel, and the tech that comes with it? Only time will inform.
32c tyres are normal, however we predict wider is coming
The precise width of a tyre and the quantity on the sidewall can differ fairly a bit because the rim width will have an effect on the ultimate form as soon as inflated. But going by the producer’s measurement designation, 32c was the most typical alternative for each the women and men at Paris-Roubaix.
Here at Cyclingnews, we predict that this alternative will proceed to get wider annually.
The optimum tyre width is, naturally, a steadiness of some parts working collectively. Tyre clearance is crucial issue, as a result of if a tyre rubs on the body, it is instantly slower by way of friction and may result in catastrophic injury.
Holistic design is the subsequent huge factor to think about: if a rim is designed to work greatest with 25c tyres, a 35c possibility will blow up with a much less aerodynamic ‘lightbulb’ profile and sure deal with much less confidently than if it had been paired with a rim designed for wider tyres.
Currently, most new street rims are being designed to work with tyres across the 28 to 30mm width, and tyre clearances in street bike frames enable round 32mm. If clearances in race bike frames (and entrance derailleurs, as we’ll get to under) had been wider, and rims had been designed round 35mm tyres or extra, then we might most likely begin to see manufacturers like Pirelli, Continental, Vittoria and Specialized making wider street tyres too.
Of course, we already are seeing this to some extent in gravel. Gravel wheels are being designed for wider tyres, endurance bikes have clearance for 40mm and extra, and for the on a regular basis shopper, that is most likely optimum. The shopper has lengthy opted to purchase what the professionals are utilizing although, so we predict we’re at a crossroads.
Either shoppers will demand wider clearances on race bikes and types will reply accordingly, or we’ll begin to see shopper demand start to diverge away from what the professionals use.
As tyres get wider, they turn out to be aerodynamically slower due to their higher frontal space. That’s offset by different issues comparable to decrease rolling resistance, extra consolation, elevated grip and extra assured dealing with. Exactly the place the tipping level is will depend on the terrain, and naturally, Paris-Roubaix’s terrain is about as brutal because it will get. It’s unlikely that the particular wants of 1 race – Paris-Roubaix – are sufficient to encourage manufacturers to alter their flagship race bike, however we’re curious to see the place racers, shoppers, and finally the manufacturers lastly determine the tipping level must be.
Frame clearance is not the difficulty, entrance derailleur clearance is
Something that we did not anticipate to study at this yr’s Paris-Roubaix is that though tyre clearance within the body is vital, it is not the limiting issue for Shimano-sponsored riders, their entrance derailleur was.
As Bahrain-Victorious lined up for the lads’s race, we noticed their Continental GP5000 AS TR tyres had been the 35mm extensive possibility. Frame clearance was tight, however not as tight because the millimetre hole between the rear tyre and the entrance derailleur. Given rims can simply deflect greater than this, it is fully potential that the 2 parts fouled one another at factors in the course of the race, however there have been no catastrophes that we heard of.
1x is right here to remain, and greater is best
Complementing our prior level, in case you take away the entrance derailleur, you instantly acquire a little bit bit of additional clearance, and SRAM-sponsored riders know this. Dozens of them had been working a single aero chainring.
For races like Paris-Roubaix which is usually flat, the interior chainring and entrance derailleur are simply useless weight and aerodynamic drag being carried round, so working this set-up is a no brainer.
We know Shimano can do it, as a result of Josh Tarling did so, however we had been stunned it wasn’t extra frequent. For those that did run 1x, larger gave the impression to be higher. Kopecky was maybe an outlier along with her 50T chainring, as most riders we noticed ran a 54T or larger.
Riders dislike aero cockpits for the cobbles
Lotte Kopecky, in addition to the entire of the Soudal-QuickStep males’s group, ran a normal stem with a spherical handlebar somewhat than the Roval Rapide one-piece cockpit. In doing so, they added at the least 4 (and possibly extra) watts of aerodynamic drag, primarily based on Specialized’s personal claims.
They weren’t the one ones, both. Patrolling the paddocks, the combination of most well-liked setups was so random it was virtually resplendent of a motorbike store discount bin.
The cause for his or her alternative was unconfirmed, however anticipated to be as a result of it is simpler to loosely maintain the smaller handlebar and let it bounce round in your palms a little bit as a type of further bump-smoothing compliance, somewhat than attempt to grip it tightly.
There’s no good bike/tyre technique
One of the large takeaways from the 2024 Paris-Roubaix is that groups not often agree on the right tools setup.
Teams can solely work inside the boundaries of their sponsors’ product providing, in fact, even when they do sometimes stray past these agreements, however even throughout groups that shared the identical suppliers, we noticed a big variance in chosen package.
On the bike entrance, the three completely different genres on the ladies’s podium is a testomony to that, with endurance bikes, aero bikes and all-rounders being evenly unfold throughout the broader peloton too. In the lads’s race, it was barely extra minimize and dry with the groups usually utilizing essentially the most aero possibility obtainable to them. That is save for Israel Premier-Tech, who threw in a curve ball by racing the Factor Ostro Gravel bike.
Among Continental-sponsored groups, some went with measurement 32, whereas others went with 35mm. Some used inserts, whereas others did not. A few groups even remained on tubular tyres.
Today’s bikes are good… actually good
The males’s version of Paris-Roubaix was the quickest in historical past. It beat the report set in 2023, which in flip beat the report set in 2022. That means we have had three years of record-breaking velocity in a row. That’s helped by climate, in fact, and it is also a testomony to the calibre of the present WorldTour peloton, however there is not any denying that the aptitude of the bikes helps.
There mightn’t have been any groundbreaking cobble-smoothing hacks this yr, however race bikes as of late are good. Darn good.