Take a fancy carbon road race bike and batter it along ancient cobblestone roads and you’re going to need to make a few setup changes to survive, let alone thrive.
Paris-Roubaix is a brilliant day for bike nerds and racing fans alike – and, in 2023, we were treated to a smörgåsbord of juicy new tech, as well as plenty of tried-and-tested hacks.
Some of it made its way to the pointy end of the race, while other innovations didn’t fare so well.
Here are 13 tech conclusions from the 2023 edition of Paris-Roubaix, across both the men's and women's races.
Inflated gains
The most notable tech innovations to appear in the 2023 edition of Paris-Roubaix were the Scope Atmoz and Gravaa KAPS hubs, which enable riders to increase or decrease tyre pressure at the touch of a button.
On the face of it, the tech makes sense for a race such as Paris-Roubaix, though the jury's out on its effectiveness.
The men's edition of Paris-Roubaix features over 50km of rough cobbled roads, split into nearly 30 sectors. Riders use wider tyres and lower tyre pressures for these sectors to smooth out the ride, but the race starts with around 100km of paved roads and smooth tarmac separates each sector.
Having a way to decrease your tyre pressure just for the cobble sectors would, in theory, enable a rider to save energy on the rough stuff, improving grip and comfort, and potentially lowering rolling resistance in the process.
We've already taken a closer look at the Scope Atmoz, used by Team DSM's Nils Eekhoff and Pavel Bittner.
Team DSM's mechanics did a neat job of integrating the system: note the strips of bar tape under the control buttons to help fit them onto the flat-top carbon bar.
You can also see a counterweight opposite the valve to improve ride feel, while heat-shrinking the air hoses to the spokes keeps things tidy.
Meanwhile, three Team Jumbo-Visma riders – Dylan van Baarle, Christophe Laporte and Edoardo Affini – were using the Gravaa KAPS.
Laporte fared best but suffered a rear-wheel puncture on the infamous Arenberg sector and never saw the front of the race again, despite going on to finish 10th.
Aero rules once again
Ever since Mat Hayman won Paris-Roubaix on a Scott Foil in 2016, aero bikes have dominated at Paris-Roubaix – and that proved to be the case once again.
While Peter Sagan was among the Specialized-sponsored riders on the Roubaix endurance bike, the disc brakes and wide tyre clearances of the best aero bikes mean that, for most riders, there’s no need to swap from the usual race-day machine, even if it does need a few spec tweaks.
In the women’s race, Allison Jackson danced into the Roubaix velodrome aboard an aero-optimised Cannondale SuperSix EVO Lab71. Her helmet was aero. Even her sunnies were aero.
A day later, Mathieu van der Poel won the fastest-ever men’s edition aboard his updated Canyon Aeroad CFR. He wore a day-race skinsuit from Kalas, an Abus Gamechanger aero helmet, and covered a good portion of his shins in Zwift-branded aero socks.
Elsewhere, the likes of the (updated) Scott Foil, Merida Reacto, Giant Propel, Liv EnviLiv, Felt AR Aero, Pinarello Dogma F, Orbea Orca and Ridley Noah were all present.
In fact, aero dominated across the board and Wout van Aert's Cervélo Soloist is a good example of why – it offers clearance for 34mm tyres; unheard of on a race bike a few years ago.
Even in a race over the stones, aero rules – though there were a handful of exceptions.
That most notably came in the form of two key endurance road bikes: the Specialized Roubaix and, for the Trek-Segafredo women's team, the Trek Domane.
The Roubaix, in particular, looks positively retro in a pro race in 2023, with all those exposed cables at the front of the bike.
Super-size chainrings
It’s a bit of a myth that Paris-Roubaix is a pan-flat race. The race climbs more than Gent-Wevelgem, but the nature of the dragging climbs – compared to the punchy bergs of Flanders – means some special chainrings are in order.
Riders tend to fit a rather large outer ring for this rapid race. In the case of Shimano’s riders, the now-standard 54t often fits the bill, but John Degenkolb swapped that for a 56t outer chainring.
Meanwhile, we saw a number of SRAM-sponsored riders switch from the standard 52t outer ring (remember, it's paired with a 10t cassette sprocket) to a 54t dinner plate.
However, it’s at the inner ring, if a rider is using a 2x crankset, where we often see the biggest change at Paris-Roubaix. Gone are the standard 38, 39 and 40t chainrings and in come some sizable 44 and 46t monsters.
Quite simply, a small inner chainring just isn’t needed for the rolling portions of the course (for pros, at least). And should they require the inner ring, after a crash, for example, they're likely going to be stuck in it until the end of the cobbled sector.
Shifting a front derailleur on rough cobbles is risky business, so the larger inner ring size is there to provide a get-out gear until they can safely shift back into the big ring.
1x on the rise
After Trek–Segafredo’s Lizzie Deignan powered away to win the inaugural edition of the women’s race in 2021, 1x drivetrains have been growing ever more popular at Paris-Roubaix.
2023 saw nearly every SRAM rider using a single chainring up front, with only a smattering of riders still opting for two chainrings.
Mads Pedersen and Wout van Aert (riding 1x once again having also ditched his front derailleur for Milan–San Remo) both opted for 54t 1x chainrings.
Meanwhile, in the women's race, Marianne Vos opted for a 50t chainring to see her over the cobbles.
While there is a simplicity to using a 1x drivetrain, you do introduce a risk of unshipping the chain.
To protect against this, every rider we saw using 1x was also running some sort of retention device.
Vos and van Aert both used different Wolf Tooth designs, with Vos on the Wolf Tooth GnarWolf and van Aert using a super-minimalist option, while Pedersen and his Trek-Segafredo colleagues opted for a K-Edge unit.
From what we saw, no Shimano or Campagnolo riders used a 1x setup.
Wide tyres as standard
In the lead-up to our favourite weekend in the road-cycling season, we had a dig into the archives and found Lars Boom’s Roubaix bike from 2012.
The cyclocross racer was ahead of his time, using a Giant TCX ‘cross bike to run 30mm tyres for a smoother passage over the stones.
While tyre sizes have been increasing over the last few years, we’ve never seen so many 30mm and 32mm tyres.
Tyre liners were also widely used to add run-flat protection, including by the likes of Wout van Aert, Marianne Vos, Mads Pedersen and John Degenkolb.
Add in the trend for growing internal rim widths and there was some very wide rubber on display for the Hell of the North.
Pfeiffer Georgi was a case in point. The Team DSM rider used tubeless Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres in a size 32mm.
We can’t quite make out the exact pressure, but the mechanic working on her team-mate’s bike is definitely using that Fumpa pump to put them in the 3-bar region. That’s around 44psi.
In the men’s race, we know that Matteo Trentin of UAE Team Emirates had 3.4 bar (49psi) in his tyres.
Meanwhile, his team-mate, Sjoerd Bax, went for 3.3 bar (48psi) at the front and 3.5 bar (51psi) at the back.
However, despite an array of 30mm+ rubber on show, winners Jackson and van der Poel both started the day on 28mm tyres. (Editor's note: Some reports suggest van der Poel switched to a bike with 32mm tyres mid-race).
Unreleased rubber
Speaking of wide rubber, a new tyre from Specialized broke cover in the women’s race on Saturday. SD Worx, Bora, QuickStep and co were all rolling on the new Specialized Mondo tyre.
This all-black tubeless-ready tyre gets Specialized’s top-end S-Works name. We’re yet to hear anything official regarding the new tyre, but it's clearly close to being production-ready given the decals printed on the sidewall.
Those decals give us some key information on the construction. The Mondo uses Specialized’s Gripton compound, with its latest T2 and T5 combination.
This sees the central slick section made from what is claimed to be a fast-rolling T2 compound. The shoulders of the tyre are slightly textured and made from a T5 compound, which Specialized says is grippier in the corners.
Crucially, one thing missing from the sidewall info was any form of puncture protection. Specialized usually specs its road race tyres with BlackBelt puncture protection. We can’t see it here, however.
An interesting choice for a race famous for punctures.
While we're talking unreleased tyres, the Vittoria Corsa Pro was a popular option among teams sponsored by the Italian brand.
The Corsa Pro was first spotted late last year and has been used throughout the early-season races, so its presence at Paris-Roubaix was hardly a surprise.
An official launch must surely be around the corner…
And finally, before we move on, we also spotted a 'Cobble' prototype version of a Schwalbe Pro One tyre on Maike van der Duin's bike at Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
We asked Schwalbe for more information on this one and got a simple reply: "With races like Paris-Roubaix, the requirements are very special, so a version of the Schwalbe Pro One was used here. We do not comment on any details."
The brand did, however, confirm that it won't be released to the public.
Tubeless (mostly) dominates – but not without issues
Continuing a trend that’s grown quickly over the past couple of years, tubeless tyres were by far the most popular option in both the men’s and women’s races.
Van der Poel had one of the most casual bike changes we’ve ever seen, but finished with no other issues on his tubeless Vittoria Corsa Pro setup. A good day for MVDP.
Other tubeless options used across the men's and women's races included the Vittoria Corsa N.EXT (as a more resilient option from the Italian firm's range), Goodyear Eagle F1, Continental GP5000 S TR and Pirelli P-Zero Race TLR.
Women's winner Alison Jackson bucked the trend, though, and won on what we believe is a set of tubular Vittoria Corsa G2.0 tyres.
Indeed, as we’re about to see, tubeless tyres aren’t always without their issues.
Unfortunately, we saw the usual share of nasty Paris-Roubaix crashes. Some were caused by patches of mud, others by the usual elbows-out Roubaix racing and one or two featured some tubeless failures, including a huge crash in the Arenberg Forest for Fred Wright.
We’re unsure of the cause of these crashes, but to see tubeless tyres, many of which appeared to be fitted with inserts, fail and dismount from the rim in this manner, certainly raises an eyebrow.
In carbon, we trust… most of the time
After two broken bars in the space of one race a few weeks ago, you could forgive Hugo Hofstetter for switching back to a traditional alloy stem and bar on his Bianchi Oltre.
Forgiven but not forgotten, Hugo. It looks as ugly as sin.
But Hoffstetter wasn’t alone. Numerous riders opted to leave the integrated carbon bar designs in the service course and start on components they’d have more confidence in should they have a crash.
Not that the fear of carbon got to everyone. Van der Poel stuck to his Aeroad’s cockpit, Ineos all used Pinarello’s Most front ends, DSM riders were happy with Scott’s design and Mads Pedersen went as far as using his latest Madone aero bike.
If you were worried about the jaunty frame shape on the Madone’s seat tube being fragile, then the fact it survived Paris-Roubaix will go some way to dispelling those doubts.
Satellite shifters aplenty
With many riders opting for the tops of the bars when riding on the cobbles, satellite shifters are needed, so they can still change gear.
Some, such as Trek–Segafredo’s Mads Pedersen, had them glued neatly to the underside of his integrated carbon bar.
Lucinda Brand preferred to have hers mounted on the rear face of a round Bontrager bar, with plenty of electrical tape required.
Nils Politt had his attached to the cable covers of his S-Works Aerofly II bar via what we assume is adhesive putty.
As for SD Worx rider Lotte Kopecky, she had two SRAM shifters neatly taped to the front of her handlebar.
Meanwhile, we spotted a rider from SRAM-sponsored Human Powered Health, who had ditched her SRAM Blips in favour of a Shimano Di2 satellite shifter.
Peter Sagan bows out with mechanical
You can always rely on Peter Sagan to rock a mechanical drivetrain at Paris-Roubaix and the Team TotalEnergies mechanics duly dug out an 11-speed Shimano Dura-Ace groupset to stick on his Specialized Roubaix.
While electronic shifting was feared to be delicate for use at Roubaix when it first came to the pro peloton, Shimano Di2, SRAM AXS and Campagnolo EPS have now taken over. However, Sagan seemingly prefers the… well… mechanical feel of a cable-operated shift.
Unfortunately, the former world champion and Roubaix winner crashed out of his final cobbled classic.
Allen keys for everyone
Narrow roads and numerous small groups mean your team car can be several minutes adrift at Paris-Roubaix. Should you have a puncture, getting the wheel off yourself, before the mechanic arrives, can speed things along.
Some teams either left small levers fitted to the ends of the thru-axles, or if that wasn’t aero enough, they simply strapped an Allen key to the seatpost.
Let’s just hope that they fitted the correct size.
Grip tape… everywhere
Rough cobbles mean you risk losing anything that isn’t bolted to the bike. Even then, riders often take to Twitter to ask for computers back after the unit escapes or the bolt-on mounts jettison themselves.
The simple fix for most things is skateboard-style grip tape.
Bottle cages? Grip-tape them.
Computer mounts? How about some grip tape (and a lanyard to attach the computer to the handlebar).
FutureShock control dial? Get me that grip tape.
For all the new tech on display at this year’s Paris-Roubaix, sometimes you can’t beat good old-fashioned hacks that have stood the test of time.
The same goes for age-old reliable components such as the Elite Ciussi bottle cage – a Paris-Roubaix stalwart.
Made from aluminium, the metal can be manoeuvred to get a tight grip on the bottle.
If in doubt, Sharpie it out
Finally, while grip tape and a roll of electrical tape can solve a lot of your problems, for anything else, there’s always a Sharpie.
Sep Vanmarcke of Maxxis-sponsored Israel-Premier Tech opted for a set of Continental's GP 5000 tubeless tyres, with the branding rather obviously scribbled out .
You’ll have to try harder to fool us, Sep.
