The Lidl-Trek team has been spotted using a specially modified SRAM Red XPLR gravel rear derailleur at the start of Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
Modified as a one-off solution at the team's request, the 13-speed, 1x-specific derailleur is being used with SRAM's Red 10-33t road cassette, a 12-speed model.
Speaking to BikeRadar outside the team bus before the start, SRAM's Alvise Rizzi revealed the reason for the modified 1x drivetrain.
“The SRAM RED XPLR AXS rear derailleur is purpose-built for gravel and rough road riding, and Lidl-Trek saw an opportunity to leverage its full-mount design and superior impact resistance for the unique demands of Paris-Roubaix.
"The course is known for its brutal cobbles, along with dust, dirt and potentially mud - conditions that mirror what XPLR was designed to handle.
"Because Paris-Roubaix is nearly flat, the team wanted to pair the XPLR derailleur’s performance benefits with a tighter-range 12-speed road cassette instead of the standard XPLR cassette. To support this setup, we made a minor change to a spare part of the derailleur.”
Such a change is only possible because the team’s Trek Madone bikes use SRAM's UDH dropout design, which allows Trek's aero road bike to be used with SRAM's gravel components.
We first saw this in action when Emma Norsgaard, and then Mads Pedersen, used gravel gearing for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Gent-Wevelgem, respectively. For this hilly Classics (including the Tour of Flanders), the team used the Red XPLR rear derailleur and cassette in its standard 13-speed configuration, paired with a road 1x crankset.
This gearing combination provided wide-ranging gearing at the rear, suitable for the cobbled bergs of Flanders, thanks to the 10-46t XPLR gravel cassette, while the road crankset still provided a race-worthy top gear.
For Paris-Roubaix, Lidl-Trek has evolved that setup with this hacked arrangement, to offer the apparent benefits of XPLR with a tight road cassette.
But while the change to make XPLR 12-speed and road-worthy seems simple enough, it doesn’t sound like the solution will be publicly available any time soon.
