出处 : CyclingNews 作者 : Will Jones
The dust has settled on Paris-Roubaix in 2024, and foreign media will take stock of the technical trends of all equipment in Paris-Roubaix in 2024.
At the time of writing, Western journalists may have just passed through the terrible stone pavements of the Allenburg Forest and slowed down the turns, which is already a frenzied race. The Paris-Roubaix average has been steadily increasing over the years, thanks in part to tailwinds, but also due to the fact that almost all of the teams in the men's category opted for aerodynamics rather than compromising on comfort.
This is in stark contrast to the Paris-Roubaix women's class, which has a much more extensive selection of bikes and equipment. Without further ado, let's take a look at how teams make it easier and faster for drivers on the roughest track in the calendar.
One of the pre-race favourites, Mads Pedersen, was probably the wildest rider on the stone track, opting for flat-barred pneumatic wheels. Of course, this is a joke, this is the car of the driver of the Lide Trek team bus around the paddock. Cool, but maybe not suitable for riding on rocks at 65 km/h......
Well, this car is Pedersen's. Unsurprisingly, he used a Trek Madone SLR with 56t single discs, melon wheels and Pirelli prototype tyres.
The tire is marked 32c, but when mounted on a Bontrager Aeolus Pro 49v melon wheel, the actual width is 34.5mm. It turns out that Madone can fit such wide tires......
Madone's unique IsoFlow structure helps provide tire clearance.
Wolf Tooth's aluminum alloy chain arrester ensures safety in bumps. The rubber bands on the bottle cage also provide an extra layer of safety for the kettle.
▲The tire clearance of the fork seems to be a little tight......
It's a subtle detail, but as a detail control, subtle detail is what we're looking for...... The Pirelli sponsor logo is exactly the same as the rim tyre interface, which is very beautiful.
How many steps does it take to change the elephant to a 62t?Racing Ineos' Josh Tallinn rode the monster carbon fibre single-disc Dogma F, but he had to switch to a spare car due to an accident early in the race, which was "only" equipped with a 60-ton double disc. But it was all in vain as the Welshman was unceremoniously ejected from the game after the referee caught him 'sticking the kettle' behaviour.
As we predicted, Roubaix is dead, and the Tarmac is the go-to choice for all Specialized sponsored teams. The main attraction of this and most other fast-pacing vehicles is not the regular knobs, nor the ratchet wrench strapped under the saddle......
If you find it, that's great: yes, the team uses a mix of road wheels and melon wheels. Some riders use the Roval Rapide, some use the Roval Terra, but most riders use a combination of the front Rapide and the rear Terra.
This combination of high front and low rear significantly saves 4 watts compared to the entire Terra wheelset, and the front wheels also provide better protection against punctures due to the thicker hook edges. In the relatively disordered airflow at the rear, the role of aerodynamics is less pronounced. Regardless of the wheels they were using, as we guessed, the riders were on 32c S-Works Mondo tubes.
Instead of mounting the barrel axle handle to the barrel axle, the team tied it to the back of the seat tube.
Despite the stiffer and more grippy Vittoria Corsa Pro Control used in previous classics, EF Education First used standard Corsa Pro tyres in Roubaix.
As always, Jonas Lutz used the 170mm extra-long stem. For his part, the Western journalist would be concerned that the additional stem length would exert much more force on the steerer than a "normal" stem.
The use of non-standard large platters is almost the current practice on the World Tour. Here, the Cofidis team opted for a 55t Kronos disc with a two-disc setup.
While most teams opted for 32c tubeless, Team Cofidis stuck with their own vintage tires, sticking 30c tubular tires to Corima wheels.
MVDP is the overwhelming favourite, and he opted for a mediocre standard setting.
▲The 54/40T disc is also "not outrageous"
He uses larger-than-usual 32c Vittoria Corsa Pro tires with vacuum padding, but other than these and double handlebar straps, this is just his usual Canyon Aeroad CFR vehicle.
The Flanders-Baloise team used the Eddy Merckx road bike, but one driver was lucky enough to wear this classic Panasonic replica livery. Like the Cofidis team, they are one of the few teams that still use tubular tyres.
▲ Carbon-Ti disc can only be the Emirates team!
In the men's division, there are also a number of riders who use Prologo CPC handlebar straps. There's also a sprint button hidden underneath the handlebar.
These little bristles are said to provide greater slip resistance, which means the rider has less force to grip the handlebars and is less fatigued.
More ways to mount the sprint button, which is the effect of the Colnago handlebar.
Oddly enough, the limit of tire clearance is now largely determined not by the frame or fork, but by single or double disc settings. When using a front derailleur, especially a Shimano front derailleur, tire clearance can be very small. With 32C, the tires are almost touching the wires.
DSM-Firmenich's Scott Foil RC is pretty much the same as usual, except for a few stone road modifications.
The aluminum alloy Elite bottle cage is a classic stone road trick that can be bent to grip the kettle more firmly.
While teams usually use the lighter pneumatic seatpost, the original seat post features an elastic insert that adds a bit of cushioning, so they swapped it back.
In the Akaea-B&B paddock, both the Bianchi Specialissima and the more aerodynamic Oltre RC are used by riders, and the Oltre handlebar pictured here stands out.
At the Astana paddock, the media was told that it would be difficult for the team to order a disc from Shimano, so the rider was using an old 11-speed platter, but apparently it works fine with the current 12-speed system, although Shimano may advise you not to.
As always, just stick a little anti-slip tape to the base of your computer to prevent squeaks or worse jagged computers.
The issue of the platters aside, Wilier's Astana liveries are fantastic. The drivers were fitted with custom team liveries.
In Bahrain-Victory Team's British champion Fred Wright used a Carbon-Ti disc.
The white Vision Metron handlebar, which is usually used in his British Champion livery, was replaced with a split stem, so that he could use the standard curved handlebar.
The 35c GP5000 AS TR tires were the biggest tires of the day, and there was barely more tire clearance on the fork.
It's not as long as Lutz's stem, but it's still a big guy. Although Prologo is the team's sponsor, he doesn't use Prologo CPC handlebars.
▲Reacto's seatpost shock absorber is already a traditional art
The all-season (AS) version of the GP5000 has a stronger grip and better protection against punctures, and what's more, it's 35c wide.
In the face of something black, thick and big, the Di2 wire trembled.
Decathlon-AG2R's Van Rysel RCR Pro has most of the same settings as usual, except for the larger platters and tires.
Former champion Van Boaler's Cervelo Soloist was ready to go, with 32c tyres and a single-disc setup, though the Dutchman didn't use the huge discs. However, he announced the DNS more than 1 hour before the game.
Although hookless reliability is now on the cusp, the Lotto-DSTNY team uses hookless as well as 30c "narrow" tyres in their races. These tubeless tubes have tubes installed inside, while the Zipp 303 Firecrest wheels have a large inner width that is more similar to a melon wheel. The 30c tire size is the upper limit of the Orbea Orca Aero, so maybe they want to increase the tire size, but they simply can't.
The Dare's prototype had a very large head tube and would normally be paired with a very heavy one-piece handlebar, but the 38cm wide handlebar chosen by Alexander Christopher wasn't there, so he used the team's existing old handlebars.
Considering Christopher's reputation as a powerful sprinter and the car's aerodynamics, the 56T single disc seemed like a perfect fit.
Get out of the way, road cars, this is the first melon car to take part in Paris-Roubaix. The Israel-PATEO Robotics team surveyed the route on a Factor Ostro and decided to use it for the race.
Some settings need to be changed to counteract the shorter Reach of the OSTRO melon. The rear float seatpost and longer stem are said to have more or less helped.
Of course, you can also put on 45c tires if you want, but that might be overkill and maybe a bit of a drag.
There's also plenty of mud room at the rear, and the frame has a longer wheelbase.
The Factor Ostro Gravel was the most aerodynamic melon car on the market when it was launched, and it seems that no melon car has claimed to be faster since then. The extra-wide head tube and fork shoulders that blend in with the main frame are key, and it still complies with the UCI tube type.
+1 for a Champion with a single thin handlebar
As you'd expect, the tires are vacuum, and it's clear that some tires are leaking during installation or pathfinding. The front derailleur clearance of the Ostro melon seems to be very adequate.
Unsurprisingly, none of the riders used the top tube bag, maintaining the dignity of the end.
Finally, all vehicles of the Mobile Star team have double handlebar straps, but only in the handlebars. Lizard Skins Tape is actually just a small section of the bar that is crossed, so the mechanics can make the transition seamless, but Western reporters can't help but think that a neater solution would be to wrap an extra layer under the main handlebar.