Team Belkin’s super chunky tire choice looked aggressive on the Bianchi Infinito CV - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Davide Frattini’s (United Healthcare) Wilier Cento 1 SR standing outside the team bus, bedecked in blue anodized K-Edge accessories - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Frattini’s K-Edge stem mount replaces a spacer on the steerer - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
United Healthcare’s solution to the annoying and dangerous problem of bottles bouncing out of the cages on the pavé was simple – tightly nipped cable ties - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
FMB tires were ubiquitous across the peloton – including on Edvald Boasson Hagen’s (Team Sky) Pinarello - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Clearance was minimal as many teams opted for 27-30mm wide rubber, but in the dusty conditions of the race, crud build up wasn’t a concern - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
A remote Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 shifter mounted the opposite way to usual on a Sky bike - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Sky’s solution to bouncing bottles was grip tape on bottle cage contact points - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Double wrapped bar tape was a feature of most team Sky bikes - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Topsport-Vlaanderen bikes were to have the cobbled sector notes mounted on the stems - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) defies peloton convention with this ultra-short stem on his Eddy Merckx EMX - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Trek Factory Racing arrived with Fabian Cancellara’s bike at the vanguard – they even travelled with his SRM in situ - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
More FMB tires: this time 27mm at Trek Factory Racing - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Luca Paolini’s (Katusha) spare bike was a bright red Ultimate CF SLX - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Specialized had set up a formal partnership with FMB, with the French company providing the cotton tubular and the Californian company providing the tread - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Alexander Kristoff’s (Katusha) Canyon Ultimate CF SLX was standard, apart from turning the high-mounted mechanical Shimano Dura-Ace STI levers - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Some Katusha riders mounted Cane Creek cyclocross brake levers - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Minimal clearance inside the Canyon forks for the bigger volume tyres - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
The special edition Elite water bottles with Russian dolls - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Omega-Pharma QuickStep opted for 28mm tires on Zipp Firecrest 404 wheels up front, matched with 30mm ones out back - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Each cobble sector was marked on Omega Pharma-QuickStep's bikes. All 28 didn’t fit, so it carried onto the top tube - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Stijn Vandenbergh (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) opts for a double bar tape wrap - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) opted for white bar tape and hoods - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Greg Van Avermaet’s (BMC) BMC GF01 is ready and waiting for the action. BMC had opted for Shimano C50 wheels over C35 wheels - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) used a remote shifter under the right thumb on his BMC GF01 - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Around the front of Greg Van Avermaet’s (BMC) cockpit was a single ‘cross brake lever - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Speedplay pedals with special bodies on NetApp-Endura bikes - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Wanty-Groupe Gobert riders were on a mix of Kuota road and ‘cross frames - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
The Belkin squad and Sep Vanmarcke had opted for super-wide 30mm tires, pushing clearance right to the limit. It was difficult to see daylight through the seatstays - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Shimano Dura-Ace remote climbing shifters are a popular choice on teams sponsored by the Japanese company - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin) had an identical cockpit setup to his Belgian compatriot Greg Van Avermaet of BMC - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Lotto-Belisol had all sorts of kit pressed into action and included both Ridley Fenix frames and its super-light stablemate, the Helium SL - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
The Lotto-Belisol mechanics aid positive shifting by gluing strips of Lizard Skins tape to the Campagnolo Ergopower levers - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Lotto-Belisol team leader Lars Bak rode a rig that looked more suited to a mountain stage in a grand tour: a Ridley Helium SL frameset and Campagnolo Hyperon Ultra Two wheels - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
Paris-Roubaix is arguably the race of the year where setup from team to team, rider to rider diverges the most. As well as using the full armoury of kit at their disposal, teams often come up with their own unique fixes for irritating problems like bouncing water bottles and fingers slipping off brake levers, and do what they can to cushion riders from the bone shaking vibrations of pavé sections totaling more than 50km.
This year FMB tyres once again came to the fore and in a range of widths, too. The French specialist – a long-time provider of tyres to the top contenders - appear to have gone mainstream. They're fitted to a large number of riders' bikes this year and set up a partnership with Specialized, too.
FMB tyres were ubiquitous across the peloton – including on edvald boasson-hagen’s (team sky) pinarello : - Sam Dansie/BikeRadar
FMB tyres shod a number of pro team bikes at Paris-Roubaix this year
In general, we saw widths ranging from standard 25mm to monstrously chunky 30mm tubulars on Sep Vanmarcke and other riders at the Belkin and Europcar squads.
Mechanics trying to find ways to stop bottles bouncing out ranged from United Healthcare's quirky use of cable ties to Team Sky's more sophisticated use of grip tape.
Check out our tech gallery of bikes from Compiègne this morning.
Sam Dansie is a former contributor to BikeRadar. With 15 years experience working in cycling media, Sam also worked for Procycling and was a script writer for GCN.
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