Mathieu van der Poel's Canyon Aeroad from Paris Roubaix.
Some might be calling it boring, predictable, inevitable even, but there's no denying that Mathieu van der Poel's performance at the 2024 Paris-Roubaix was impressive. To ride Mads Pedersen off his wheel on the Forest of Arenberg is a feat that not many - if any - others can claim.
And dominant though his performance was, you don't win Roubaix without a team of excellent mechanics, a well-dialled bike, and a big stroke of luck.
While his teammate Jasper Philipsen - who finished an equally impressive 2nd - suffered an untimely puncture shortly after the Arenberg forest, Van der Poel had no such misfortune.
His Canyon Aeroad CFR, which has received its fair share of criticism during its tenure as Van der Poel's race bike, flawlessly saw him through 259km of Northern France's finest terrain between Compiegne and Roubaix, complete with 55km of cobbled terrain.
His Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres, in size 32c and pumped up to 3.46 bar (50 PSI), performed equally well. Save for a momentary chain drop, his Shimano Dura-Ace groupset missed barely a single beat.
Just as with Lotte Kopecky's bike yesterday, I put in the hard graft (namely sweet-talking the ASO for behind-the-scenes access) and managed to get a handful of up-close photos with the World Champion's bike. Let's dive in for a bike check.
Check out all the best of the Roubaix tech from the mens race in our Premium Tech Gallery.
His bike was fitted with 50mm deep Shimano's Dura-Ace wheels (Image credit: Josh Croxton)They were shod with Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres, set up tubeless, with a foam insert inside. Spot the extra rim stickers for Roubaix (Image credit: Josh Croxton)The tyres were 32c wide. Watch the video below to see the mechanic preparing them for the race. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Within minutes of Van der Poel crossing the line, the UCI and their beige chinos were quick to tag it. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)All podium bikes will be tested for mechanical doping. The tag won't be removed until that test has been completed. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)Being a Shimano-sponsored rider, Van der Poel was running a 2X chainset, with 54/40T chainrings. We don't expect that inner chainring was used at all though. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)That was paired with an 11-30 cassette (Image credit: Josh Croxton)He uses 172.5mm cranks (Image credit: Josh Croxton)His World Champ paintjob is subtle, but classy. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)Unlike Kopecky yesterday, Van der Poel hasn't tilted his shifters in at all, this is just the natural curve of the Dura-Ace shifters (Image credit: Josh Croxton)While the whole of Soudal-QuickStep used round handlebars this year, Van der Poel used a one-piece aero cockpit. He technically can't run anything other than this, as the Aeroad uses a novel proprietary quill-style headset. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)The 3D printed out-front computer mount is a nice touch too (Image credit: Josh Croxton)Shortly after my time with the bike, it was whisked away by this stern looking man. Mathieu then rode it to the famous Roubaix showers, before eventually heading to the press room for his press conference. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)Post-race, Van der Poel rode his Canyon into the famous Roubaix showers (Image credit: Will Jones)The bike was leant up hastily against a wall whilst the champ jumped in the shower, there was some mud splatter from the cobbles, but the bike was relatively clean (Image credit: Will Jones)World Champ rainbow strips and Roubaix mud splatter, not a bad combination really (Image credit: Will Jones)We learned in the press conference Van der Poel rode the first 100km on 'skinnier' tyres ( we assume 28's) to save energy (Image credit: Will Jones)Will this bike go to a museum, continue to be raced or go home with Van der Poel? Either way, it made history today (Image credit: Will Jones)
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