Team Giant-Alpecin ran 30mm Vittoria tubulars at Paris-Roubaix. The team edition 30mm tubulars were marked with this simple smile - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Team Giant-Alpecin mechanic Felipe Ennes Joudjakoff airs up Bert De Backer's 30mm tubulars with a Bosch electric hand pump to a specified pressure - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Air pressure is always a hot topic among mechanics and riders alike at Paris-Roubaix. ere, Astana's Gatis Smukulis checks out the cushioning on Roy Curvers' 30mm Vittoria setup - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Giant-Alpecin uses an extra cable tension adjuster to quickly clear the 30mm girth for wheel changes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
27mm is about the skinniest you will find, with 28mm being the standard for Roubaix - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
An aggressive tread on the 28mm Hutchinson tubulars of Direct Energie, which raced on disc brakes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
While about half the WorldTour teams race Continental, we only saw one rider, AG2R's Sebastian Minard, on a cyclocross bike this year - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Like many teams, Movistar ran Conti's 28mm Competition Pro LTD tubulars. Clearance was tight on the Canyon Aeroad frames - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Peter Sagan had two Specialized bikes ready to race: this Tarmac with 26mm tubulars on 64mm wheels, then a Roubaix with 30mm FMB tubulars on 40mm wheels. The plan was to switch after the first ~100km of racing, before the cobbles began - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Sagan's plan for the 27 sectors of cobbles: 30mm of plumpness - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Lotto-Soudal, like most teams, carefully prepared each tubular to the front and rear specifications of the rider - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
At the start line, riders felt each others' tubulars. Some let out even more air from their own - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Team Katusha rode 27mm FMB tubulars - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
These Vredestein-branded tubulars have a similar casign to the boutique FMBs - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Like the smiley faces, handwritten directional arrows are another sign of special-edition tubulars - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Wanty-Groupe Gobert pumped and checked each tubular with a track pump, then double-checked the pressure with a digital gauge. Pressures on the sheet ran from 4.8-5.2bar (70-75psi) - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Mechanics use electric pumps and digital gauges; riders use their thumbs - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
It’s a brutal but simple problem: the 27 cobblestone sectors of Paris-Roubaix are hell to ride across on a normal race bike. Over the years we have a seen a number of technologies to combat this emerge, from pivoting frames to elastomer rear suspension to front suspension forks. But the most effective solution is also simple: fat tubulars with low pressure.
While 28mm has become the standard width, last year John Degenkolb won Paris-Roubiax on 30mm tubulars, showing that even fatter isn’t necessarily slower. While Degenkolb didn’t return to defend his title, his entire Giant-Alpecin squad followed suit, riding 30mm tubulars marked with a simple smiley face.
Normal road racing pressure is around 6-7.5 bar / 85-108psi, depending on rider weight and conditions. For Paris-Roubaix, riders will start out much lower, in the range of 4.8-5.2bar / 70-75psi, and the tubulars will lose a little air over the course of the 6+ hours of racing over 258km.
Air pressure is always a hot topic among mechanics and riders alike at paris-roubaix
As with most bike tech choices, it’s a balancing act with tubular pressure: riders want comfort on the stones but speed and efficiency on the tarmac.
At the start of the 2016 Paris-Roubaix, world champion and recent Tour of Flanders victor Peter Sagan opted not to compromise. Instead, he started the race on a Specialized Tarmac with 26mm tubulars on 64mm rims, then planned to switch after about 100km of racing to a Roubaix with 30mm tubulars on 40mm rims before the cobbles started.
Before the race, mechanics worked to prepare every bike with the front and rear pressure specifications of each rider. Most used a digital pump to set the pressures handwritten on a team sheet. Others used a track pump for inflation and then double-checked the pressure with a digital gauge.
Wanty-Groupe gobert pumped and checked each tubular with a track pump, then double-checked the pressure with a digital gauge. pressures on the sheet ran from 4.8-5.2bar (70-75psi)
Riders, for their part, had their own pressure-measuring technology — their thumbs. In the minutes before the start, riders checked each others’ pressures and a few opted to let out a bit more air. With 53km of pavé looming, it couldn’t hurt, right?
Check out the gallery above for a close look at what some of the teams were running at the 2016 Paris-Roubaix, and be sure to visit Cyclingnews for complete coverage of the Hell of the North.
Ben Delaney is a journalist with more than two decades of experience writing for and editing some of the biggest publications in cycling. Having studied journalism at the University of New Mexico, Ben has worked for Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, VeloNews and BikeRadar. He has also previously worked as Global Brand Communications Manager for Specialized. Ben covers all things road and gravel, and can be found logging big miles in the Rocky Mountains that nestle alongside his home in Boulder, Colorado. He has covered the most important bike races in the sport, from the Tour de France and Tour of Flanders, to the Unbound gravel race, and specialises in tech content, showcasing what the pros are riding and putting everyday equipment through its paces.
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