11/04/2024

Oliver Naesen and Sep Vanmarcke analyse speed record at Paris-Roubaix: "Because Mathieu stands out so much, all teams want to have a rider in the early breakaway"

In Paris-Roubaix it happened again: the speed record was broken again. Just like in the Omloop, Kuurne, Milano-Sanremo, the E3 Saxo Classic and the Tour of Flanders. HLN looks for a logical explanation for this, talking to Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale's leader Oliver Naesen and ex-pro Sep Vanmarcke, among others.

One reason might have been a favorable wind. But Vanmarcke doesn't see it as decisive. "We have had a lot of tailwind this year, but the wind is not always the determining factor. In many races there is constant twisting and turning, so you certainly don't have a tailwind all day."

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As Naesen sees it, the fight for exclusive breakaway spots speeds up the race severely in early phases. "Because Mathieu stands out so much, all teams want to have a rider in the early breakaway. It's a real hassle to get into it. If an early breakaway of five riders pulls away, that is not good for ten other teams that are not part of it and they start to ride behind. But if twenty riders break away, that is too much for the favorite teams and they begin pacing. So creating the early breakaway is a game of constant relaunching that doesn't stop."

"In the past, the early breakaway was given ten minutes and the peloton took it easy for the first few hours," Vanmarcke recalls. "Alpecin-Deceuninck's tactic in the recent classics has been to keep the gap on the early break within two minutes, so that they can cross whenever they want. Nowadays the early breakaway is hunted game from the start."

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"The material is the key," Naesen notes. "In Roubaix, half of our team rode with time trial socks over their shoes, even though we knew it would be twenty degrees and you would never do that in such weather because it is too hot. Now you do that because you can ride just a millisecond faster."

"Nowadays, aerodynamics are ingrained everywhere," Vanmarcke agrees. "In the classics, aerodynamic bikes, aerodynamic helmets, aerodynamic time trial suits and even aerodynamic gloves are used. The rolling resistance of the tires has also been greatly improved. They all run tubeless, which has lower rolling resistance."