Our Paris-Roubaix tech feast continues
This week we’ve been bringing you a feast of Paris-Roubaix tech.
We’ve covered our tech highlights from the 2023 Hell of the North, the latest tyre pressure management system from Scope, taken you up close and personal with Peter Sagan’s final Roubaix bike, spotted an unreleased Specialized Mondo tyre and charted the evolution of Paris-Roubaix bikes over the past decade.
Now it’s time for something different, with our gallery of the weird and wonderful tech snippets spotted at this year’s Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
Jonas Rutsch’s 170mm stem
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We’re used to seeing pro riders with low and long positions but Jonas Rutsch’s stem stopped us in our tracks when stalking the mechanics’ trucks ahead of the race.
The EF Education–EasyPost rider’s FSA SL-K aluminium stem measures a monstrous 170mm.
As former BikeRadar staff member Ben Delaney commented on our Instagram: “That’s a top tube”.
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The German rider is 197cm / 6ft 6in tall and rides a 58cm Cannondale SuperSix Evo Lab71 frame, requiring the 170mm stem to get the position he desires.
Cannondale does make a 61cm size frame for the new SuperSix, but perhaps Rutsch doesn’t want the extra 3cm of stack height that frame brings.
Even at 170mm, the stem wasn’t long enough to cover all of Rutsch’s race notes…
Did you bring your reading glasses?
Paris-Roubaix is a chaotic race, with 29 sectors (54.5km) of cobbles in the men’s race and 17 (29.2km) in the women’s race.
Positioning is key to success on the cobbled sectors, with riders going elbow-to-elbow into each sector to stay at the front.
Ninety-degree corners are common, too, and with the narrow crown of the cobbles the most sought-after patch of ‘road’, there’s little room for error.
As a result, it’s common for riders to have the key sectors detailed on stem-mounted race notes. For a race like Roubaix, that requires some creative arts and crafts.
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Zoe Bäckstedt’s pedals are older than she is
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Zoe Bäckstedt made her Paris-Roubaix Femmes debut on Saturday – using a set of pedals older than she is.
The 18-year-old – a two-time junior world road race champion – opted to use the Speedplay pedals ridden to victory by her father, Magnus Bäckstedt, in the 2004 edition of Paris-Roubaix.
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The custom-modified pedals had their plastic casing removed ahead of Magnus’s surprise Hell of the North victory, leaving only the metal body on show.
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This, according to Bäckstedt Snr, reduces the risk of the pedal and cleat interface becoming clogged up by mud.
Zoe Bäckstedt’s EF Education-TIBCO-SVB team-mate, Alison Jackson, went on to win the third edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
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3D-printed parts and custom number holders
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Chain catchers are common at Paris-Roubaix, providing a little extra security in case the chain decides to jump ship on the cobbles.
We spotted a neat 3D-printed chain catcher on a Human Powered Health team bike (above).
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Team DSM’s Nils Eekhoff also appeared to have a 3D-printed race number holder.
On that note, the variety of proprietary aero seatposts now used in the pro peloton means that teams commonly require a neat (and often custom) solution to mounting the race number.
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K3 is a company that has popped up to fill that niche, providing number holders for a wide number of bikes, from the Bianchi Oltre XR4 to the Trek Madone.
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We spotted a K3 design on Elise Chabbey’s Canyon Ultimate CFR for Paris-Roubaix Femmes and Sep Vanmarcke’s Factor Ostro VAM for the men’s race.
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A rare rim brake sighting
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You don’t need us to tell you that disc brakes have taken over the pro peloton.
However, look hard enough and you can still make a rare sighting of that endangered species, the rim brake.
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Parkhotel Valkenburg, a Continental-level women’s team, used Factor road bikes equipped with Shimano Ultegra Di2 and rim brakes for Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
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A splash of colour
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We’d love to see more colour when it comes to the latest WorldTour bikes but the peloton isn’t completely devoid of colour.
The Trek–Segafredo women’s team debuted a new paintjob at Paris-Roubaix Femmes, with their Domane endurance bikes sporting a “Trek Team Black” design.
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According to Trek, “the new scheme combines a rich black background with bold shapes and colours inspired by the cobbles of the race and stunning brick murals throughout Roubaix”.
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We also doff our caps to the Team UAE ADQ women’s squad, who add a splash of colour via their handlebar tape, which matches the team’s kit.
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John Degenkolb’s Easter egg
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Former Paris-Roubaix winner John Degenkolb’s race ended in bitter disappointment after his hopes of a second victory were ended by a crash with just 16.5km remaining.
The 2015 champion crashed on the decisive – and action-packed – Carrefour de l’Arbre sector, with Wout van Aert then puncturing and eventual winner Mathieu van der Poel surging away.
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Degenkolb was riding a Scott Foil, the latest version of the aero bike that made Roubaix tech history when piloted to victory by Mat Hayman in 2016.
So far, so normal, but the Easter egg drawing from Degenkolb’s children, stuck to his top tube, raised a smile when we saw his bike at the race start.
Goldie Lookin’ Chain
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Everyone loves a bit of bling – including Mads Pedersen.
The Dane’s Trek Madone, already one of the most distinctive bikes in the peloton, steps things up a notch with a gold SRAM chain and cassette.
Having been launched in June last year, this was the first outing for the new Trek Madone on the cobbles of the Hell of the North.
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Not content with breaking the mould by riding a bike with a hole in its seat tube, Pedersen’s Trek–Segafredo men’s team went for a 1x setup.
Pedersen paired a 54t chainring, with a K-Edge chain catcher, with SRAM’s 10-33t 12-speed cassette.
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Healthy brains
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Team Jumbo–Visma used Paris-Roubaix to launch a helmet awareness campaign with sponsor Lazer.
The team’s riders wore helmets with a “healthy brain” design.
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“It happens all too often that a bike accident results in brain damage, which could have been prevented by wearing a helmet,” according to the team’s pre-race statement.
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