Route stickers on the down tube and 81 images from De Ronde
Image 1 of 81
Coquard's angry chicken is on a roll(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Vision Metron 5D integrated handlebar/stem for a Lotto-JumboNL rider may be uncomfortable after twenty-three cobbled sections(Image credit: Josh Evans)
25mm Continental tyres were seen on the majority of Bahrain-Merida's bikes(Image credit: Josh Evans)
Former Milan-San Remo winner Arnaud Demare was equipped with new Shimano Dura-Ace 9100 wheels(Image credit: Josh Evans)
Demare adjusts his brakes ahead of the race start(Image credit: Josh Evans)
Double-wrapped handlebar tape and a climbing switch located next to the stem for changing gear on the top of the bars(Image credit: Josh Evans)
Even John Degenkolb's race notes are colour coordinated(Image credit: Josh Evans)
We think Team Dimension Data have some of the best looking cockpits in the WorldTour peloton(Image credit: Josh Evans)
"Many riders, including Orica-Scott's Mat Hayman opted for 25mm tubular tyres"(Image credit: Josh Evans)
Luke Durbridge had a 150mm stem on his Scott Foil RC(Image credit: Josh Evans)
Benoot double-wrapped his handlebars with Lizard Skins DSP Camo bar tape(Image credit: Josh Evans)
A Sky mechanic pairs Ian Stannard's Garmin to his Stages power meter(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Stannard has a piece of tape over his Edge 1000 buttons - his mechanic couldnÕt say why(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Stannard's clean shrink-wrap job on the cables and wires(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Stannard's race number is also tidy - cut to fit the Pinarello's curves(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Cofidis rider Cyril Lemoine wins the prize for the biggest gears: 54/42 and 11-32(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
An 11-32? Maybe is you didn't have a 42-tooth small ring you wouldn't need that(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
A 54t big ring seems ambitious(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
FSA's top-end K-Force caliper was designed for wide rims(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Massive triangulation on Coquard's FSA integrated bar/stem(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Specialized has a new Hell of the North version of its S-Works Turbo(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Quick Step was using 26mm and 28mm Hell of the North tubulars(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Bryan Coquard and his Direct Energie teammates use a mix of FSA and Shimano parts(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
FSA's SL-K calipers compliment the crranks, but the levers and derailleurs are still Shimano(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Power2Max power meter on the FSA TT rings(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Ceramic-bearing pulleys on the Di2 derailleur(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
A berg sticker on the *down tube*? We've never seen that one before(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Lemoine goes old school(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Cofidis rider Hugo Hofstetter tapes the route profile onto his handlebars(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Pozzato was one of the few riders on 28mm tubulars(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
#SaddleVanity(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
#MechanicIngenuity(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Like his teammate Tom Boonen, Quick Step's Iljo Keisse started on a Roubaix. But Keisse's had a little extra GoPro flareÉ temporarily(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
The Movistar team rode a mix of Canyon Ultimate and Aeroad framesets(Image credit: Josh Evans)
Local boy Oliver Naesen's Factor O2(Image credit: Josh Evans)
Naesen's Factor is equipped with Dura-Ace cranks with a SRM powermeter(Image credit: Josh Evans)
Tiesj Benoot is Lotto-Soudal's leader for De Ronde and rode a Ridley Fenix(Image credit: Josh Evans)
Filippo Pozzato's fluro-spectacular Wilier Cento 10 Air(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
No motor doping here, according to the tablet(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Kinda hard to read, if you ask us(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Sometimes the power-meter suppliers, such as Stages here, are the hold-ups with delivery of the still-scare 9100 cranks(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Pioneer meters are still 9000, whether on Subweb's otherwise 9100 bikes or on these all-9000 bikes(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
The Pioneer system requires magnets on both sides for its directional-force power measurements(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Movistar's Imanol Erviti Ollo plays it safe, keeping a leash on his Garmin Edge 1000(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
World champ Peter Sagan opts for the Garmin Edge 520(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Team Lotto NL-Jumbo's Steven Lammertink is on the new Selle Italia SLR Superflow(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
The UCI was at work scaning bikes for motors(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
Pressures for the Tour of Flanders are lower than those for a standard road race, but still much higher than Paris-Roubaix(Image credit: Ben Delaney)
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.
Rim brakes remain supreme
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.
Team Sunweb, which recently debuted Shimano Dura-Ace discs in the peloton, had three disc bikes.
Quick Step's Tom Boonen raced a new Specialized Roubaix, which is sold as a disc bike — but his version was configured for rim brakes.
Tubular widths and pressures
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.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
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.
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.
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.
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.
