Welcome to half two of our Opening Weekend tech gallery. The mud from Omloop Het Niewusblad had settled in a single day, and Sunday dawned chilly, however vivid and sunny in Kortrijk for Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.
The early morning cloud cleared, and by the point the staff buses and vehicles have been pulling into their designated begin zone, the solar was out in earnest, and the nice and cozy blue skies appeared to welcome the beginning of the European spring classics interval after an extended, chilly winter.
The discipline for Kuurne was largely the identical as Omloop aside from one addition, the Wagner Bazin WB squad, a UCI Pro Team, who had secured an invite to the race. You can see their bikes and gear down under.
Some key standouts for me from the beginning have been some very particular rider-fueling methods. The attention-grabbing stem notes on some bikes actually hit dwelling how a lot gas the professionals have to tackle now to be aggressive. The second was a spate of aftermarket brake rotors, pads and rotor lockrings, which I noticed at just a few groups. Stopping is necessary, and you’ll perceive groups searching for each benefit potential.
I paid one other go to to Bora and Lidl to take a look at their new Roval tyres and wheels and SRAM XPLR groupsets, and had a superb have a look at Intermache-Wanty’s hidden tubeless valves.
Enjoy the gallery. The spring classics are lastly right here, the climate is getting hotter, and we are able to stay up for all of the thrilling racing to come back over the subsequent few months.
Opening weekend tech gallery half 1.
First, I used to be again at Bora-Hansgrohe to get a greater have a look at their wheels and tyres. I imagine this can be a new Roval wheel and tyre from Specialized. The rim lacks any mannequin branding and has a black hub. Spot the distinction with the rear wheel behind it which has the staff subject silver one. It was additionally deeper than the rear wheel, so to our eyes it is the primary ‘street mullet’ wheelset we have seen in use.
Next, I headed to Pro Team Wagner Bazin WB to take a look at their De Rosa 70 bikes, fitted with Shimano Dura-Ace and Ursus wheels. The gray, inexperienced and white appeared good collectively within the morning solar, and it definitely was refreshing to see one thing apart from the usual WorldTour gear for a change.
The wheels are from the Italian model Ursus, and 30mm Goodyear Eagle F1 R tyres are fitted for Kuurne.
The staff was working SwissStop disc rotors, pads and lockrings, the primary aftermarket brake elements of the day.
Most groups match a bit of internal tube over their race transponders for an aero acquire, however there have been some uncovered models at Wagner Bazin WB.
Rotor Aldhu chainsets with INspider energy meters for the staff. Rather a lot is happening on this shot. Spot the protecting movie over the crank arm and the bearing sponsor sticker from Cema, a bearing producer from Taiwan. Finally, the chain is definitely the M1800 unit from Shimano, an Ultegra spec, not Dura-Ace.
The Israel Premier Tech Factor bike’s paint has a deep lustre that attracts you in. This is Jake Stewart’s bike; no tall spacer stack is required for the British racer.
Another neat race quantity holder right here. Stewart completed the race 14 seconds down in seventieth place.
Here is Stewart’s fuelling technique. I’m undecided what a ‘Krispy’ is, but it surely sounds prefer it could be tasty.
Carbon-Ti through axles on the Colnago frames. This one’s seen some motion, doubtlessly with some frantic wheel adjustments.
This mechanic at Q36.5 was torquing these shifter clamp bolts off earlier than the beginning, perhaps after a last-minute place change for a rider.
Lidl Trek’s 1x SRAM aero chainrings have been paired with RED XPLR gravel derailleurs and cassettes. This is a 54T entrance ring.
Red XPLR makes use of a 13-speed cassette that may be run with an everyday 12-speed SRAM chain. The derailleur is burly and powerful and has firmer clutch spring rigidity than the usual Red rear mech, which ought to be advantageous over the cobbles.
Spot the carb combine written on the Lidl-Trek aero bottles, which have to be used with the latest model of the Madone to make sure the utmost aero profit.
More exterior cabling on this normal Zipp stem. The brake hoses are warmth shrunk collectively. I feel they may very well be run shorter, however the mechanics have left a little bit additional size to make future changes and work simpler.
Continental Conti Coach tubeless radials for the Lidl bus. I’m undecided how a lot sealant they have been working in these, however they have been spotless.
Wout van Aert is king in Belgium. The Visma-Lease a motorcycle bus was swarmed as quickly because it arrived, and followers fortunately waited to catch a glimpse of their hero.
The staff’s Cervelo bikes had Wolf Tooth disc rotor lockrings fitted.
Visma and Quick Step have been by far the preferred groups, and I needed to get my elbows out right here, too. The staff have been working normal Roval CLX Team wheels so far as I may see, not the prototype wheels and tyres Bora are utilizing.
Pro bikes are instruments and choose up battle scars right here and there. This was Yves Lampaerts’ second bike on the staff automotive roof rack.
The Di2 electrical wire is saved in place on this Quick Step bike, however spot the extra piece of clear tape conserving it tidily connected to the chainstay, I assume to minimise the danger of it getting snagged and to stop it catching the wind in any method.
There appears to be a severe give attention to aero features at Intermache Wanty. More than one staff bike had a handlebar setup like this; they have been comfortably probably the most aggressive round.
Spot the tubeless valves. Intermache use Hutchinson tyres and this can be a new, ‘Race’ mannequin of the Blackbird, presumably now the highest of that model’s efficiency line. They additionally reap the benefits of the Newmen Streem tubeless valve system, which implies the shorter valves keep hidden contained in the rim for an aero acquire. The sticker you’ll be able to see covers the rim’s valve gap.
A staff mechanic was completely satisfied to point out me the staff’s pump extension device to succeed in the recessed valves.
This Astana mechanic appeared despairing once I requested what was occurring right here. The mechanics have been making an attempt to troubleshoot some type of time-trial handlebar angle subject utilizing a digital angle device.
The Astana X-Lab AD9 bikes look like pretty inventory so far as I can inform. They have been hidden away between this wall and the staff bus, which made getting at them difficult.
There is not any mistaking the Lapierre body design of staff Picnic PostNL. The white paint pen marker signifies Van den Berg’s seatpost top.
This intimidating fuelling schedule was probably the most spectacular I noticed on the day. It was from Steffen de Schuyeneer’s bike over at Lotto.
Lotto have been one other staff utilizing aftermarket brake elements. The staff have been utilizing Galfer disc pads, rotors and lockrings as an alternative of Shimano. Galfer are a Spanish model with origins in bike merchandise.
A floating Galfer rotor on the rear and burly lockring. Spot the ‘open’ Orbea dropout on the non-drive aspect, which I assume makes wheel swaps a contact sooner.
If unsure, get {the electrical} tape out. I assume that is to minimise any pc rattles on the cobbles.
Another wholesome spacer stack over at Jayco AlUla and a 10mm spacer on prime, the staff’s purple and chrome Giant Propel race bikes simply appear to glow within the vivid sunshine.
A barely extra DIY stem word had been deployed right here; I don’t know what this implies, but it surely’s in all probability the place all the massive hills arrive.
The staff’s Cadex Aero tubeless tyre data may be very straightforward to identify.
A stall close to the staff’s setup space had a variety of biking memorabilia on the market, a number of it spanning a number of many years. I resisted the temptation and saved strolling.
Decathlon AG2R have been driving the RCR-F aero bike, that is Belgian classics star Oli Naesen’s. The staff instructed me they used barely shallower wheels for Omloop’s extra unforgiving parcours. The RCR-F hasn’t formally been launched but, however we have seen it in testing way back to summer season 2024.
The Deda handlebar has a deep prime part profile and appears very aggressive.
More than one squad have been working the Continental Aero 111 tyre. It was initially developed together with SwissSide, the AG2R wheel sponsor.
The Bahrain Merida bikes all the time look dialled. Spot the Elite Ice Fly 500 thermal bottles, which may help hold drinks cool.
I used to be admiring this neat carbon fibre quantity holder at Bahrain, which seems handmade to me.
Finally all of the riders had zipped by to the beginning, and the staff vehicles loaded up and rolled out. The classics are formally underway.
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