The Movistar team rode a mix of Canyon Ultimate and Aeroad framesets - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Local boy Oliver Naesen's Factor O2 - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Naesen's Factor is equipped with Dura-Ace cranks with a SRM powermeter - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Tiesj Benoot is Lotto-Soudal's leader for De Ronde and rode a Ridley Fenix - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Benoot double-wrapped his handlebars with Lizard Skins DSP Camo bar tape - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Luke Durbridge had a 150mm stem on his Scott Foil RC - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Many riders, including Orica-Scott's Mat Hayman opted for 25mm tubular tyres - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
The Scott Foil RC sees its rear brake located under the bottom bracket - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
A Quick-Step mechanic checks Matteo Trentin's tyre pressures with a digital gauge - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
28mm S-Works Turbo tubular tyres for Trentin - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Boonen's S-Works Tarmac is equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace 9150 cranks and a 4iiii powermeter - Josh Evans / Our Media
Standard gearing of 53/39T and an 11-28T cassette for the former champion - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Even Boonen's name sticker has had custom treatment - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
These Cannondale-Drapac tyres are badged up as Mavic, but in the past the team has been known to use Veloflex tyres - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
It looks like Sep Vanmarcke's seat post may be a few millimeters too high - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Vanmarcke's relatively short stem and spacers show that it's not all about slamming the stem - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Vanmarcke has sprint shifters on the drops and double wrapped his handlebar tape - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
25mm Continental tyres were seen on the majority of Bahrain-Merida's bikes - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Former Milan-San Remo winner Arnaud Demare was equipped with new Shimano Dura-Ace 9100 wheels - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Demare adjusts his brakes ahead of the race start - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Double-wrapped handlebar tape and a climbing switch located next to the stem for changing gear on the top of the bars - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Even John Degenkolb's race notes are colour coordinated - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Roy Curvers (Team Sunweb) rode non-series Shimano disc brakes - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Nikias Arndt rode big 54/42T chainrings - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Greg Van Avermaet had a standard gear combination of 53/39 chainrings and an 11-28 cassette - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
John Degenkolb had a climbing gear switch on his bars - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Elite Ciussi bottle cages are common during the cobbles Classics - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Sonny Colbrelli was the only Bahrain-Merida rider to run Shimano Dura-Ace 9100 cranks - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Double-wrapped tape and sprint shifters on the drops for Colbrelli - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
When your whole team has gold SRMs a little differentiation is needed - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Sonny Colbrelli opted for 28mm wide tyres - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Bert de Backer and Ramon Sinkeldam (Team Sunweb) were the only riders with the new Shimano Dura-Ace disc brakes - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
The Dura-Ace discs were paired with unbranded carbon rims stickered up as Shimano - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Shimano Dura-Ace brakes (front) and non-series Shimano disc brakes (rear) - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
We think Team Dimension Data have some of the best looking cockpits in the WorldTour peloton - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Simply some Tip-Ex for Scott Thwaites' spare bike - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Newly crowned South African National Champion Janse Van Rensburg had some nice custom paintwork on his Cervelo - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
The Team Sunweb mechanics double checking tyre pressures with an electric pump and gauge - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Each rider's specific tyre pressures were noted for front and rear tyres - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
FDJ's Lapierre Xelius machines lined up ahead of the start - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Whlst Arnaud Demare had his climbing switch facing towards him for shifting with the thumbÉ - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Johan Le Bon had the switch facing forward for shifting with his fingers - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Taylor Phinney was the only Cannondale-Drapac rider with double-wrapped handlebar tape - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Cannondale-Drapac's bikes lined up ahead of the start - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Phinney opted to ride the Cannondale Synapse, whilst the remainder of the team were on Cannondale SuperSix - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
Vision Metron 5D integrated handlebar/stem for a Lotto-JumboNL rider may be uncomfortable after twenty-three cobbled sections - Josh Evans / Immediate Media
We only saw five bikes with discs at the Tour of Flanders - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Veranda's Willems-Crelan rider Dries De Bondt had mechanical SRAM Red with hydraulic brakes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
De Bondt's teammate Stijn Devolder had the new SRAM eTap Hydro setup - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
While most riders opted for 25mm tubulars, a few choose 28s, like this Continental Competition RBX - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Astana had Specialized tubulars on the bikes on the cars, but had blacked-out FMBs on the race bikes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
A Movistar mechanic dials in the specified pressure for each rider - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Pressures for the Tour of Flanders are lower than those for a standard road race, but still much higher than Paris-Roubaix - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Specialized has a new Hell of the North version of its S-Works Turbo - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Quick-Step was using 26mm and 28mm Hell of the North tubulars - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Bryan Coquard and his Direct Energie teammates use a mix of FSA and Shimano parts - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Coquard's angry chicken is on a roll - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
FSA's SL-K calipers compliment the cranks, but the levers and derailleurs are still Shimano - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Power2Max power meter on the FSA TT rings - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Ceramic-bearing pulleys on the Di2 derailleur - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
A berg sticker on the *down tube*? We've never seen that one before - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Massive triangulation on Coquard's FSA integrated bar/stem - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
FSA's top-end K-Force caliper was designed for wide rims - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
A Sky mechanic pairs Ian Stannard's Garmin to his Stages power meter - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Stannard has a piece of tape over his Edge 1000 buttons - his mechanic couldn't say why - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Stannard's clean shrink-wrap job on the cables and wires - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Stannard's race number is also tidy - cut to fit the Pinarello's curves - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Cofidis rider Cyril Lemoine wins the prize for the biggest gears: 54/42 and 11-32 - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
An 11-32? Maybe if you didn't have a 42-tooth small ring you wouldn't need that - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
A 54t big ring seems ambitious - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Lemoine goes old school - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Cofidis rider Hugo Hofstetter tapes the route profile onto his handlebars - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Kinda hard to read, if you ask us - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
A number of team still have older 9000 Dura-Ace cranks with their new 9100 series parts - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Sometimes the power-meter suppliers, such as Stages here, are the hold-ups with delivery of the still-scarce 9100 cranks - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Pioneer meters are still 9000, whether on Subweb's otherwise 9100 bikes or on these all-9000 bikes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The Pioneer system requires magnets on both sides for its directional-force power measurements - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Movistar's Imanol Erviti plays it safe, keeping a leash on his Garmin Edge 1000 - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
World champ Peter Sagan opts for the Garmin Edge 520 - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Team Lotto NL-Jumbo's Steven Lammertink is on the new Selle Italia SLR Superflow - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The UCI was at work scanning bikes for motors - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
No motor doping here, according to the tablet - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Filippo Pozzato's fluro-spectacular Wilier Cento 10 Air - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Pozzato was one of the few riders on 28mm tubulars - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
#SaddleVanity - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
#MechanicIngenuity - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Like his teammate Tom Boonen, Quick Step's Iljo Keisse started on a Roubaix. But Keisse's had a little extra GoPro flareÉ temporarily - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
To prepare for the 18 cobbled bergs of the 101st Tour of Flanders, riders dropped the pressure in their tubulars a little bit — and a few opted for 28mm casings instead of the standard 25s. BikeRadar took a close look at the bikes of all 25 teams.
While the Tour of Flanders course celebrates Belgian cobbles, the pro peloton does not regard it as extreme as the following week's Paris-Roubaix, where disc brakes can offer clearance for ultra-wide tires to deal with the stones. At Flanders, we only saw five disc bikes, and none of those had tubulars wider than 28mm.
Stijn Devolder rode a Felt FR1 with SRAM eTap Hydro and his Veranda’s Willems–Crelan teammate Dries De Bondt raced on the older SRAM Red Hydro.
We only saw five bikes with discs at the Tour of Flanders - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The peloton has recently moved from 23mm to 25mm tubulars for normal racing. For Paris-Roubaix, riders will often go as wide as they can, with 28mm or 30mm tubulars being squeezed into frames. For Flanders, most choose 25s, but seemingly more riders than last year opted for 28mm. Continental's Competition RBX was a popular choice for both 25 and 28mm widths.
While most riders opted for 25mm tubulars, a few choose 28s, like this Continental Competition RBX - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
As with width, air pressure at Flanders is another in-between story, with mechanics topping off tires between 5.5 and 6.5 bar (80-95psi). Normal race conditions warrant pressures around 8 bar / 115psi, varying of course for rider weight and preference. For Paris-Roubaix, riders will go as low as 4.8 bar / 70psi.
Pressures for the Tour of Flanders are lower than those for a standard road race, but still much higher than Paris-Roubaix - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Dura-Ace 9000/9100 mismatches continue
Shimano's new 9100 group hasn't made its way completely into the peloton yet. The 9100 cranks were initially in short supply, and while Shimano tells us they are now delivering in full, many teams still had bikes with 9100 or 9150 groups built with 9100 cranks. Sometimes that can be chalked up to the delivery of crank-based power meters, such as Pioneer and Stages, which were also affected by the earlier delivery issues. Team Sky had full 9100 and 9150 setups with Stages, however.
Pioneer meters are still 9000, whether on Subweb's otherwise 9100 bikes or on these all-9000 bikes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
Big computers, big gears and... a route sticker on the down tube?
Pros are just like the rest of us in that they have different preferences. Whether it is saddles or lever position or computer choice, there is no single right answer.
Still, it's always fun to see some of the more extreme setups. At Flanders, it was surprising to see a monstrous 11-32 cassette on Cyril Lemoine bike. Was that because he had a 54/42 setup? Most everyone else seemed content with the standard 53/39 and 11-28.
An 11-32? Maybe is you didn't have a 42-tooth small ring you wouldn't need that - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
A few riders like big Ian Stannard race with the big Garmin Edge 1000 computers.
Both of these things we have seen before. But a route sticker of key race elements like cobbled climbs placed on the down tube? That is not something we have ever seen.
A berg sticker on the *down tube*? We've never seen that one before - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
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.
This website is owned and published by Our Media Ltd. www.ourmedia.co.uk