Ah, the dust has settled on yet another amazing Paris-Roubaix weekend. 'Holy Week' is over and although the rain has stopped, Roubaix was still treated to a rainbow display as Lotte Kopecky and Mathieu van der Poel wore the World Champion jerseys to victory. Cue the viral video for “Double Rainbow.”
As usual, cycling news A team of enthusiastic reporters were on site after the race, combing the paddock looking for new technology. We have already brought you the news that Israel Premier Tech will be racing gravel bikes. We have confirmed that Specialized Roubaix will not be competing in the race that bears its name. We unearthed a huge aero-looking new bike from his Uno-X camp and compiled two huge tech galleries of his covering women's racing tech and men's racing tech.
But as the hangover from the weekend chaos, and the whole West Mall tripel, wears off, some overarching technology trends are beginning to surface. With each Paris-Roubaix, the world of bicycle technology moves at an accelerated pace. For example, the tires are wider, the chainring is larger, and if the last two editions are any guide, the average speed will be higher.
But there are many more trends and conclusions to draw, nine in total. So that's exactly what we did.
Women's Paris-Roubaix technique is more interesting than men's
A few days before the event, I spoke with the Specialized S-Racing team, who explained in detail the equipment selection process the team will undergo. That led to the story of Specialized riders ditching Roubaix, but my biggest takeaway was how teams and brands work together to be the fastest possible for the conditions they face and their strategies. It was because I chose the equipment with the sexiness. For example, they said that in 2023, SD Works used Tarmac SL7 because there were fewer cobbles to contend with, while the men's team used Roubaix, with the exception of Nils Pollitt, who wanted to get away early.
This year, the men avoided the Roubaix and used the Tarmac SL8 instead. The actual race was on the road, so I preferred to accept the disadvantage on the cobbles. Competition for position in each sector.
What that means is that men are using typical stationary bikes just about everywhere, and there are no hacks to smooth out cobbles other than wider tires, extra bar tape, and in some cases changing the handlebars. That means there were almost none.
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Interestingly, while SD-Worx had a similar approach for the men, the general approach to equipment for the women's peloton was much more complex. The podium itself was a perfect example, with winner Lotte Kopecky riding an all-rounder bike, second place Elisa Balsamo on an endurance bike, and third place Pfeiffer George on a no-holds aero bike. We needed to prove that it's the rider who wins the race, not the bike.
But the advantage of such a combination is that it is much more interesting to geek out from the beginning.
Aero is king, the “special Roubaix bike” is dead
It's more about aero bikes than aero bikes. For years past, technology hacks at Paris-Roubaix have focused on making bikes go faster on the cobblestones. As a result, riders now use bikes with hacks to smooth out rough cobblestones. Does anyone remember the Rockshox fork or the full suspension Bianchi?
But now stationary bikes are more popular than endurance bikes, and there were just as many hacks focused on stationary bikes as any other. Alexander Kristoff's new prototype Derr There's no doubt that his bike is aerodynamic. You can also see that most of the SRAM sponsored riders swapped out their aero chainrings for his 1X. And Josh his Terling Pinarello Dogma F was equipped with his 62T 1x aero chainring, which is frankly outrageous.
Cyclocross tires are narrower than road tires
My esteemed colleague Will brought along his trusty calipers to measure the actual width of the rider's tires. And the big takeaway was that if this were a cyclocross race, most riders would have been kicked out before the race even started.
The most common choice of tire size was 32c, but with the wide rims available today, most sizes measure wider. For example, Lidl-Trek was fitted with 32c wide prototype Pirelli tires wrapped around Bontrager Aeolus 49 gravel wheels. The actual width has expanded to 34.5mm. But it was Fred Wright and his Bahrain Victorious team who used Continental GP5000 AS TR tires in his 35mm option that topped it.
In cyclocross, an off-road competition, tire width is limited to 33mm, and from July 1, 2010, the limit was reduced from 35mm. Will the UCI decide to relax its rules again, or will it choose to maintain the 33c rule to ensure differentiation between cyclocross and gravel and its accompanying technologies? only time will tell.
32c tires are standard, but wider tires are expected
Rim width affects the final shape after inflation, so actual tire width and sidewall numbers may vary considerably. However, according to manufacturers' size descriptions, 32c was the most common choice for both men and women at Paris-Roubaix.
At Cyclingnews, we think this choice will continue to expand year after year.
The optimal tire width is, of course, determined by several components working together and balancing. Tire clearance is the most important factor, because when a tire rubs against the frame, friction immediately reduces speed and can lead to catastrophic damage.
The next important thing to consider is the overall design. If the rim is designed to work best with his 25c tires, the 35c option explodes with a less aerodynamic “bulb” profile that handles more confidently than when paired with engineered rims. may not be able to be operated. For wide tires.
Most new road rims are now designed to accommodate tires between 28 and 30 mm wide, and road bike frames allow tire clearance of up to approximately 32 mm. If the race bike's frame (and front derailleur, discussed below) had more clearance, and the rims were designed around his 35 mm or larger tires, perhaps brands like Pirelli, Continental, Vittoria, and Specialized would emerge. I will. Also wide road tires.
Of course, we're already seeing some effect on gravel. Gravel wheels are designed for wide tires, and for endurance bikes they have over 40 mm of clearance, which is probably the best fit for the everyday consumer. However, we believe we are at a crossroads because consumers have long chosen to buy what the professionals use.
Either consumers will demand more clearance for race bikes and brands will respond accordingly, or consumer demand will start to diverge from what the pros use.
Wider tires have more frontal area and are therefore aerodynamically slower. That is offset by other factors such as reduced rolling resistance, increased comfort, increased grip, and more sure handling. Exactly where the tipping point is depends on the terrain, but of course the terrain at Paris-Roubaix couldn't be more demanding. It is unlikely that the specific needs of one race, Paris-Roubaix, will be enough to motivate a brand to change its flagship race bike, but racers, consumers, and ultimately brands I'm interested in where the tipping point is determined.
Frame clearance is not the issue, front derailleur clearance is.
What we didn't expect to learn at Paris-Roubaix this year was that while tire clearance in the frame is important, it's not the limiting factor for Shimano-sponsored riders, and the front derailleur is the limiting factor. That is to say.
When Bahrain Victorious entered the men's race, we noticed that their Continental GP5000 AS TR tires were available in a 35mm width option. Frame clearance was tight, but not as tight as the millimeter gap between the rear tire and front derailleur. Considering the rim could have easily deflected more than this, it's entirely possible that at some point during the race he had two components contacting each other, but there's no catastrophe we've heard of. was.
1x is here to stay, bigger is better
Adding to the previous point, removing the front derailleur immediately gives you a little extra clearance. SRAM sponsored riders know this. A few dozen of them were running a single aero chainring.
For races like Paris-Roubaix, which are mostly flat, it's easy to run with this setup since the inner chainring and front derailleur are only subject to dead weight and air resistance.
We know Shimano can do it because Josh Tarling did it, but we were surprised it wasn't more common. For those who have done 1x, bigger seems to be better. Kopecky was probably the outlier with his 50T chainring, as most of the riders we saw were running 54T or higher.
Riders dislike aero cockpits due to cobblestones
Lotte Kopecky and the entire Soudal QuickStep men's team ran a standard stem with round handlebars rather than the Roval Rapide's integrated cockpit. In doing so, they added at least 4 watts (and probably more) of drag, based on Specialized's own claims.
They weren't the only ones. As I cruised around the paddock, the combinations of setups I liked were so random it was like a bargain bin at a bike store.
I'm not sure why they chose to do this, but rather than trying to grip the smaller handlebars tightly, it's better to grip the smaller handlebars loosely and let them bounce a little in your hands as a type of compliance to smooth out bumps. It is expected that this is because it is easy.
There is no perfect bike/tire strategy
One of the big takeaways from Paris-Roubaix 2024 is that teams are unlikely to agree on the perfect equipment set-up.
Of course, the team can only work within the scope of the sponsor's product offering. Of course, even if we deviate from those agreements, we've found that there are significant differences in the kits selected, even between teams that share the same supplier.
On the bike side, endurance bikes, aero bikes and all-rounders are evenly distributed across the wide peloton, as evidenced by the presence of three different genres on the women's podium. In the men's race, teams typically made the most of the available aerodynamic options, resulting in a somewhat cut-and-dry race. That's with the exception of his premier Israeli Factor Ostro who threw in a curve ball by racing his gravel bike.
Some of Continental's sponsored teams used size 32, while others used 35mm. Some use inserts, others do not. Some teams continued to fit tubular tires.
Today's bike is good…really good
The men's edition of Paris-Roubaix was the fastest in history. This surpassed his record set in 2023, and he also surpassed the record set in 2022. This means that record breaking speeds have been achieved for the third year in a row. Of course, this is helped by the weather, and is a testament to the power of the current World Tour peloton, but there is no denying that the ability of the bikes also helps.
There may not have been any groundbreaking hacks to smooth out the cobbles this year, but race bikes these days are good. The best.
