For the layperson, Christmas Day falls on twenty fifth December. However for bike nerds like us at Biking Weekly, it is available in April, stretched over a weekend in northern France.
With its distinctive and unrelenting cobbled sectors, Paris-Roubaix at all times guarantees to carry a sleigh filled with fascinating tech. This 12 months is proving no completely different.
Forward of the fifth version of the ladies’s race, Biking Weekly wandered from staff bus to staff bus, armed with a digicam and an inquisitive thoughts. This is what we discovered, from gravel wheels and differing tyre widths, to aero bikes and adjustable stress programs.
Aero bikes with gravel wheels
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
Ridley’s Noah Quick 3.0 aero bike, ridden by Uno-X this season, is among the most aggressively designed bikes we have seen within the peloton.
Its futuristic geometry boasts longer tube shapes within the forks, dropped seat stays, and an eye-catchingly deep headtube (pictured under). In response to Ridley, it is 8.5 watts quicker than the earlier mannequin.
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
And but, whereas aero is essential in a flat race like Paris-Roubaix, it must be balanced with consolation over the cobbles.
Uno-X got down to obtain this by pairing the Noah Quick with gravel wheels – DT Swiss’s GRC 1100. Created from light-weight carbon, the wheels are designed to soak up shocks, and are mentioned to be the “final off-road” companion by their makers.
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(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
30-35mm tyres
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
Tyre width selection has lengthy been some extent of competition within the cobbled Classics, and nowhere extra so than at Paris-Roubaix. Racing over fiercely jagged cobbles, riders want a wider floor space than they do on the street, hoping to roll safely over the extra harmful stretches.
At Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift on Saturday, Biking Weekly noticed riders selecting widths from 30mm to 35mm – in comparison with the extra widespread 28mm seen on the flat.
The widest tyres we noticed belonged to SD Worx-Protime, together with the defending champion Lotte Kopecky, whose entrance wheel is pictured above. The staff ran 35mm S-Works Mondo endurance tyres.
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
The subsequent widest tyres belonged to the Cofidis staff, who ran the grippy Vittoria Corsa Professional Management in 34mm.
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
Ceratizit additionally ran Vittoria Corsa Professional Management tyres, however in 32mm. This was the commonest width among the many starters on the day.
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
The narrowest tyres we noticed have been fitted to the bikes of Human Powered Well being’s riders, and measured 30mm. We additionally noticed this width on bikes from St Michel – Desire Residence – Auber93 and Liv AlUla Jayco, with half the Australian squad on 30mm and the opposite half on 32mm.
Tyre inflation system
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
Adjustable tyre stress programs first surfaced at Paris-Roubaix two years in the past, utilized by a handful of riders testing the then-new know-how.
This time spherical, Visma-Lease a Bike’s riders have been unanimous in working the programs, made by Netherlands-based Gravaa.
The corporate’s system is managed wirelessly through Bluetooth with buttons put in on the handlebars, and permits riders to drop and enhance tyre stress as they please. Pauline Ferrand Prévot rode the know-how to victory on her debut.
“I modified each sector,” the Frenchwoman mentioned afterwards. “It was tremendous good to have the ability to put decrease stress on the cobbles. We have been rather more snug, much less leaping.”
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
After she dropped the stress down, Ferrand-Prévot mentioned the system took “some minutes” to stand up to 4-bar (58psi), however gave her a bonus on the street sections.
“To have the ability to pump once more on the tarmac was tremendous good, as a result of there was quite a bit on the finish on the tarmac,” she mentioned.
Unreleased wheels
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
This 12 months, riders have been utilizing unreleased ‘sensible wheels’ from model Zipp. The primary to be seen utilizing them was Q36.5’s Tom Pidcock at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, they usually have been commonplace at Paris-Roubaix amongst Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto and Movistar, two groups provided with Zipp wheels.
Though there isn’t any spec out there in the meanwhile, patent data suggests the wheels give stay suggestions to riders about tyre stress, rim well being, and street surfaces. They don’t, nevertheless, permit stay stress changes like Gravaa’s system.
The wheels come as a mixture of Zipp wheels and in-sensor equipment from TyreWiz, two manufacturers owned by elements maker SRAM.
Single chainrings
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
One other factor that has change into a extra widespread sight at Paris-Roubaix is single chainring groupsets, often known as 1x.
Each staff provided with SRAM elements – together with Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, Movistar, and Visma-Lease a Bike – used 1x set-ups on Saturday.
A single chainring is generally enough for a flat race like Roubaix, and vastly reduces the danger of the chain falling off. Within the image of Chloé Dygert’s (Canyon-SRAM) bike above, you may see she used a series information maintain it in place. This was normal throughout these working 1x.
Satellite tv for pc shifters
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
Satellite tv for pc shifters are nothing new at Paris-Roubaix, nevertheless it’s at all times fascinating to see how completely different riders select to position them.
Above, notice how Emma Norsgaard (Lidl-Trek) has one shifter beneath the tops of her bars, and one other contained in the drops. This allows her to shift whereas dealing with the bike in other places.
Norsgaard’s shifters have been additionally strengthened with further bar tape.
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
The above image is of Kopecky’s handlebars. The world champion opted for single shifters, positioned both facet of her bike’s stem.
It is because Kopecky prefers grip the tops of her bars whereas using over cobbles, shifting along with her thumbs.
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
One other noticeable factor we noticed on Kopecky’s bike was this rainbow-coloured metallic cassette. This bit of glitz was on her spare bike, and provides no discernible benefit, aside from wanting cool.
(Picture credit score: Tom Davidson)
We have been additionally huge followers of this special-edition cobble paint job over at Winspace Orange Seal’s staff bus.
The bike did not have a quantity hooked up to it, so we’re unsure if it was used within the race. Both means, it appears the half, would not it?
