Paris-Roubaix, one of the toughest races on the calendar, is often a show ground of the latest bike tech.
This year is no different. On the ground in Denain, at the start of the fourth edition of the women's race, Cycling Weekly wandered through the team paddock in search of interesting trends and insights.
We got the lowdown from team mechanics about tyre width and pressures, 1x drivetrains, and innovative products, designed to absorb the bone-shaking vibrations of the cobbles.
Here are six of the most noteworthy things we spotted.
32mm tyres
Over the years, tyre width at Paris-Roubaix has been getting bigger and bigger. Speaking to Cycling Weekly, Magnus Bäckstedt said that he had to beg to be allowed to use 27mm tyres back when he won the race in 2004. Now, 32mm is commonplace.
"When we tested over the last couple of weeks, it was really quite muddy," a Canyon-Sram mechanic explained. "The weather changed a lot, but we think there are still some sectors that are slippery, so with more traction and more volume in the tyres, it probably helps. With all the water, I think the cobbles are harder than before."
The mechanic added that the Canyon-Sram squad was running pressures between 36psi (2.5 bar) and 43psi (3 bar) in Schwalbe's Pro One TLE tyres.
32mm width was the general consensus around the paddock, with SD-Worx, EF Education-Cannondale, dsm-firmenich-PostNL and Lifeplus Wahoo all among the teams opting for it.
Protoype tyres
Lidl-Trek were running unique tyres at Paris-Roubaix this year, prototype ones, in fact, from their sponsor Pirelli.
The team, which won two of the first three editions of Paris-Roubaix, has been running the unreleased tyres throughout this Classics season, with Elisa Balsamo riding them to victory at the Classic Brugge-De Panne.
It is thought that the prototype tyres are an update to Pirelli's P-Zero Race. Interestingly, Lidl-Trek were running 32mm ones, bigger than any of the current P-Zero Race offerings, which only come in 26mm, 28mm and 30mm.
1x drivetrains
Who needs a little chainring, anyway? With Paris-Roubaix effectively a pancake-flat race - only a couple of hundred metres of elevation over almost 150km - some squads decided to go with a 1x drivetrain.
The teams in question were those who run Sram groupsets, most opting for a 52T chainring, with a 10-38T cassette.
"Most Sram teams run a 1x for this race," Canyon-Sram's mechanic said. "They usually use them for cyclo-cross. It keeps the chain better on the system."
Among those running 1x were Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and much of the Canyon-Sram team.
Special, grippy bar tape
With the defending champion, Alison Jackson, in their ranks, EF Education-Cannondale set out in search of new marginal gains this time round. This included special, new bar tape from Prologo.
The tape is equipped with the brand's volcano-shaped rubber Connect Power Control (CPC) material, which it often uses on its saddles.
"It's mostly friction and padding," a team mechanic explained. "The CPC tendrils add that little bit of padding, kind of like a dual density in a way, soft on the top and firm underneath. We also have some silicone underneath that, mostly to round the bar a little bit.
"It adds grip when it’s muddy and wet. Today, we got lucky, it’s not really a big problem. But if it was raining and muddy, the riders really liked it.”
FDJ-Suez leader Grace Brown was also running the new Prologo bar tape.
Vittoria 'control' tyres
The bar tape was one of two modifications EF Education-Cannondale made to their set-up. The American squad also swapped in special tyres, Vittoria's Corsa Pro Control, which were released last May, after last year's edition.
The tyres retail at £90 a piece and come with adapted tread for a grippier feel over cobbles. As previously mentioned, EF Education-Cannondale chose to run sets at a width of 32mm.
Visma-Lease a Bike and dsm-firmenich-PostNL, who also work with Vittoria, used the standard Corsa Pros.
Vibration-absorbing seat posts
Something that caught our eye in the team paddock was dsm-firmenich-PostNL's seat posts with detachable componentry.
Closer inspection revealed them to be Duncan SL Aero Comfort seat posts, specially designed to help absorb vibrations.
"There are two parts that give a little bit more dampening on the cobbles," a team mechanic told Cycling Weekly. "That’s not our standard for normal road races. There, we have a full carbon seat post. We had this one last year, testing with the men’s, but now we have the full set-up here. It’s the same as what the men will use on Sunday."
