Paris-Roubaix 2018: equipment in focus

Paris-Roubaix 2018: equipment in focus

Gallery: from special pavé tyres and strapped fingers to strategically positioned helpers with spare wheels, Paris-Roubaix demands serious attention to detail


Road racing is always a sport of man and machine but rarely does the equipment fall into focus quite as sharply as it does at Paris-Roubaix. 

At no other event on the World Tour calendar, do riders deviate so far from the standard (road and time trial) set-ups they are issued with at the start of the season.

Sure, the climbers get their special lightweight wheels out in the mountains, a time trial specialist might pull out an extra big chainring for the worlds, but everywhere you turn at Roubaix there are special accommodations made to the 55 km of ragged, dirty, rutted pavé that defines this race.

Read: Muddy Hell – the last wet Paris-Roubaix

It was to these preparations -and consequences despite them- that photographer Chirs Auld turned his camera in the 2018 edition of the race. 

Won by World Champion Peter Sagan, it was an event marred by the death of 23 year old Belgian rider Michael Goolaerts following a cardiac arrest.    

Read: Steve Bauer, the man who lost Paris-Roubaix by millimetres

   

Gallery: Drillium and sawn-off bars at the national hill-climb

 

The post Paris-Roubaix 2018: equipment in focus appeared first on The world's finest cycling magazine.

READ MORE

Eddie Dunbar: The grafter from Cork

Eddie Dunbar: The grafter from Cork

When the going gets tough, Eddie Dunbar gets going. The Irish climber aiming high at the Giro with a new team – and a new...

Read more
La Vuelta España Femenina 2026 preview: Who will win the Maillot Rojo?

La Vuelta España Femenina 2026 preview: Who will win the Maillot Rojo?

Rouleur takes a look at the contenders for the 12th edition of the Spanish Grand Tour

Read more
‘Visma are the indisputable favourites’: UAE Team Emirates-XRG forced into Giro d’Italia rethink after João Almeida ruled out

‘Visma are the indisputable favourites’: UAE Team Emirates-XRG forced into Giro d’Italia rethink after João Almeida ruled out

Joxean Fernández Matxin tells Rouleur that UAE will now back Adam Yates who will be vying to keep the maglia rosa in the family after...

Read more
The picky cannibal: Pogačar brings stardust to Tour de Romandie

The picky cannibal: Pogačar brings stardust to Tour de Romandie

The world champion brings some much-needed attention to what used to be key build-up race to the Tour de France

Read more
Paul Seixas gets close to the sun – and doesn’t burn. Tadej Pogačar has a new rival

Paul Seixas gets close to the sun – and doesn’t burn. Tadej Pogačar has a new rival

The 19-year-old Frenchman finishes second to the world champion at Liège-Bastogne-Liège

Read more
Cruelty and promise: how the youngest lit up the oldest Monument

Cruelty and promise: how the youngest lit up the oldest Monument

Paula Blasi, 23, and Isabella Holmgren, 20, finished fifth and sixth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and showed they could be Ardennes stars in the years to come

Read more

READ RIDE REPEAT

JOIN ROULEUR TODAY

Get closer to the sport than ever before.

Enjoy a digital subscription to Rouleur for just £4 per month and get access to our award-winning magazines.

SUBSCRIBE