Dutchman plumps for 32mm tyres, but makes few other Paris-Roubaix concessions
Mathieu van der Poel won the men’s Paris-Roubaix with a crushing 60km solo attack, which saw the Dutchman claim his second consecutive victory in the race, having also won the Tour of Flanders the previous weekend.
Van der Poel crossed the line with a three-minute margin over his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate, Jasper Philipsen, who won the three-way sprint for second.
Despite van der Poel breaking away from the peloton with 60km remaining, this was the fastest-ever edition of Paris-Roubaix. Van der Poel recorded a time of 5hr 25min 58sec, averaging 47.8kph.
The world champion’s bike of choice for Paris-Roubaix was the Canyon Aeroad.
This will come as little surprise to those who follow Van der Poel’s exploits – the Aeroad is MVDP’s go-to bike – and the 29-year-old made few concessions for the harsh cobbles of northern France.
Aero from head to toe
Paris-Roubaix may still be the toughest one-day race on the WorldTour calendar, but van der Poel’s victory proves once again that aero road bikes now officially rule the roost over the pavé.
The relatively flat parcours and high speeds mean watt-savings are the winning tech formula for the sharp end of the race – and with an aero bike, aero helmet, skinsuit and aero socks, van der Poel was fully optimised for his assault on the 2024 race.
Aero bikes dominated the peloton, even if Israel-Premier Tech stole headlines before Paris-Roubaix for opting to use the Factor Ostro Gravel.
Israel-Premier Tech’s equipment manager, Gary Blem, explained how the team’s pre-race testing showed that the gravel bike would be the best choice for Paris-Roubaix, due to its long wheelbase and comfort.
Van der Poel stuck to his usual race rig, though, in a build that deviated little from what he rides through the rest of the season.
Maybe he had his 10-year contract with Canyon on his mind, but van der Poel appeared to approve of his Aeroad for Paris-Roubaix, affectionately patting its head tube for the cameras in the closing kilometres.
A concession for the cobbles
The generous tyre clearances available on contemporary aero road bikes make them a viable choice for Paris-Roubaix, with an extra few millimetres of rubber almost a prerequisite for the race. A wider tyre can be run at a lower pressure, to help absorb the brutal hits served up by 55km of harsh, irregular cobbles.
Van der Poel’s bike is typically set up with 28c Vittoria Corsa Pros tubeless tyres, as we saw at the 2023 Tour de France. For this year’s Paris-Roubaix, van der Poel opted for the same tyre but in a wider 32c width, wrapped around 50mm-deep Shimano Dura-Ace wheels.
Those 28c tyres at the Tour measured up at 29.3mm on the C50’s 21mm internal rim width, so you can expect van der Poel’s Roubaix rubber to inflate wider than the nominal 32c size.
These tyres are wider than the official maximum tyre width of the Aeroad, which Canyon says is 31mm. But, as is often the case, the Aeroad appears to have enough extra space for slightly wider tyres than what the manufacturer recommends.
According to Cyclingnews, van der Poel’s tyres were inflated to 3.46bar (or 52psi).
While Philipsen suffered from a flat after the Arenberg sector, the puncture Gods were smiling down on van der Poel, and he navigated each of the 29 sectors without any mechanical incident of note.
An understated build
Beyond the switch to wider tyres, van der Poel’s build was a standard affair for the Queen of the Classics.
While some riders opted for dinner plate-sized chainrings, or switched to a 1x drivetrain, van der Poel stuck to his preferred 54/40t Shimano Dura-Ace setup.
Another change common to Paris-Roubaix bikes is the addition of an extra layer of handlebar tape.
Van der Poel, however, stuck to just the one layer wrapped around his one-piece carbon cockpit – and rode without gloves.
Elsewhere, van der Poel used the same 3D-printed computer mount we’ve seen on his bike before and the same Elite Custom Race Plus bottle cages. He also stuck to his preferred Selle Italia Flite saddle.
All told, van der Poel made life simple for his team mechanics in the build-up to the race – and delivered a ride for the ages to secure his first Flanders-Roubaix double.
