Cannondale Bike Specs - Paris-Roubaix

 

When Karel was selecting what type of  Cannondale bike he would be renting from the EF Coaching Team, he wanted his bike to be as close to the professional riders as possible. In other words, Karel wanted to experience the Roubaix cobble sectors with a true race bike to get a better appreciation of what the professional riders experience at Paris Roubaix. 

Karel is riding: 

• Cannondale Super Six Evo Lab71 EF Pro team bike (it's Rigoberto Urán "spare" bike)
• Groupset Shimano Dura-Ace 12sp
• Cranks FSA SL-K
• Vision wheels and cokpit
• Gearing 54/50 front and 11-34 rear
• Prologo saddle and tape 
• Vitoria Corsa pro control tires 30mm mounted on 50mm deep carbon vision rims. Mounted with tubes. 
• Pressure: 45 psi rear, 42 psi front. 

Karel really likes the feel of the bike. Today he rode 30 miles and although it was another cold and wet day, he felt much more confident on the cobbles. 

As part of the camp, the team mechanics wash and service the bikes every day. This is a true treat for Karel who always takes care of our bikes. He loves that the bike is like brand new every morning. 

Bottles are made with a mix of your choice (Amacx Sport Nutrition). Karel starts with 80g carbs and another of 40g carbs. On race day (tomorrow) he will start with 2 x 80g carb bottles. There will be aid stations along the course and the EF Coaching team soigneurs will be at 2 additional places on the course, handing out bottles....just like the pros. 

Karel is enjoying trying out the different sport nutrition products (ex. bars, gels, chews, drinks). 

At the end of every ride, he immediately receives a recovery nutrition bottle from the EF coaching staff. Then the mechanic takes the bike, he gets his rainbag back from the car, he goes to shower and then he gives his dirty clothes to the team staff. Talk about professional service! 

Tomorrow is the Paris Roubaix Challenge. Karel will be racing all of the cobbled sectors for 170km in his new EF Team jersey.

The race starts between 7-7:45am (self seeded) and over 6000 cyclists are set to participate in one of the three distances. 

Paris-Roubaix Trouée d'Arenberg

Day 2 of the EF Coaching Paris-Roubaix camp started early, around 9am. Sadly, the weather was not ideal and the ride was cut short due to cold and rainy conditions. Karel said he was so cold from the wet conditions. The group rode ~27 miles to the Arenberg Forest and got shuttled back to the hotel in the team vans. 

According to Cycling News,

"The Trouée d'Arenberg is infamous for being the first five-star cobbled sector in Paris-Roubaix. The path is technically called the Drève des Boules d'Hérin, and the 2,300 metres (1.4 miles) of rough cobblestones are some of the worst in all of professional cycling.

The road was laid down in the late 18th century and subsided since then due to mine workings beneath the forest. Jean Stablinski is credited with suggesting the inclusion of the sector in Paris-Roubaix and the Trouée d'Arenberg was first used in the 1968 edition.

Since then, it has become a fixture of the race and prime viewing for spectators, with tall trees lining the sector to bring visual drama along with the race excitement. Coming with around 100km to go, it is typically where the first decisive splits of the season's biggest cobbled classic are formed."

Karel was one of the few members of the group that managed to ride the entire cobbled sector today. He said it was incredibly hard. Although there isn't a lot of elevation on this course, the cobbles are extremely slippery. Especially in the rain. Karel said he had to keep riding because even if he wanted to unclip and stop, he would slip and fall. There is a paved path on the side of the sector but that will be lined with spectators on race day. 

Cycling UK perfectly described Arenberg as.....

"‘You ride through there and you think, “This is just ridiculous”,’ says Hayman, now a sport director at Jayco-AlUla. ‘Your bike feels as though it’s about to fall apart at any moment. You don’t know how carbon fibre can even take that kind of shock. Anybody who’s gone over there – including those who’ve done the sportive – will understand. It’s by far the worst section of cobbles in the race, and if there’s any kind of moisture in the air, you know it’s going to be slippery.’

Karel riding through the famouse Arenberg Forest.

These aren't random goats on the side of the road. GCN reports that "for the second year in a row, a herd of animals are ensuring the cobblestones are in race-ready condition, in an environmentally and socially friendly way." "On a few days in the weeks leading up to Paris-Roubaix, around 40 goats are driven to the Arenberg forest and encouraged to fill their bellies. With an estimated 2,500 cobblestones on the 2.3km sector, there's plenty to go around."

After they returned back to the hotel, it was time to warm up their shivering bodies. They had lunch around 2pm and then Karel had a massage (free with the camp) around 5:30pm. 

Tomorrow is another ride and then one more sleep until Karel takes part in the amateur Paris Roubaix 170km challenge on Saturday. 

Karel is at Paris-Roubaix!

 

A year ago, our good friend Joe emailed us about the Paris Roubaix EF Pro Race Camp from April 4-7th, 2024. Immediately, as soon as I read the words Paris Roubaix, I knew this was something that Karel had to do. 

Since a very young age, Karel has loved the sport of professional cycling. He got this love from his dad. Karel watches all the grand tours and classics and knows a lot about the sport and the riders. He also loves anything bike related so he regularly stays up on bike tech by reading various websites. Having grown up as a cyclist, he also knows a lot about the 'early days' of cycling. 

Check out these pics of teenager Karel. 

Behind the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix is one of the most recognizable events in cycling. Known as the Queen of the Classics and the Hell of the North, this event dates back to 1896 and has taken place 120 times since then. Paris-Roubaix is arguably the hardest one-day cycling race in the world. At almost 260km (161 miles), the unpredictable weather and wind conditions add an extra layer of difficulty to the 29+ cobble sectors which make up around 55km (34 miles) of the race. Although the course is flat, the vibrations from the cobbles require a tremendous amount of power which means a great amount of energy is expended within each sector. And all of this is done on a road bike. There are three five-star sectors on the course (the start show the difficulty of the cobbled sectors), which are the Trouée d'Arenberg, Mons-en-Pévèle and the Carrefour de l'Arbre.

The race finishes in the iconic Roubaix Velodrome. 

In other words, Paris-Roubaix is a legendary bucket list event for any cycling enthusiast. 

Karel traveled to Europe on Monday from Charlotte. He flew to Newark on United and met Joe there. They flew on United to Brussels. They arrived to Brussels airport around 7:30am on Tuesday and were greeted by someone with the EF coaching staff. They were shuttled ~90 minutes to their hotel in Lille Grand Stade. When they arrived, they received their Cannondale bikes that they rented for camp and checked into their rooms.  Karel was exhausted from very little sleep on Monday night but they venture out for a shake out ride on Tuesday to experience the cobbles (and wind). After a good night of sleep on Tuesday, the camp officially started around noon on Wednesday. They received some really cool swag at the hotel, had lunch and then listened to a presentation about riding on the cobbles (Karel really enjoyed it). Then they were off for day 1 of camp - a 55km ride, finishing in the famous velodrome. When they arrived back to the hotel, they had snacks and then a late evening dinner. 

The camp package includes:

• Four star accommodation at Park Inn by Radisson, Lille Grand Stade, near Roubaix velodrome - the start and finish of the sportive and finish of the pro race
• All meals and ride nutrition
• Daily training rides and sportive preparation with Team EF Coaching trainers
• Team car supported training rides with mechanic, nutrition and spare kit
• VIP pro race package including exclusive team access at the World Tour race
• Daily bike maintenance and cleaning by team mechanic
• Paris-Roubaix Challenge race entry and insurance
• Massages by team soigneurs
• Daily laundry service for cycling kit
• Pre-camp access to our training library
• Personal race-day nutrition consultation with nutritionist Spencer Miller
• Secure bike storage and ride preparation room
• Transfer from Brussels airport or Roubaix train station

After 3 days of riding parts of the course, Karel will participate in the Paris-Roubaix Challenge. On Saturday morning, thousands of cyclists get to ride the same course as the pros. Although ~90km shorter than the pro race, Karel and Joe will be racing 170km (~105 miles) and will cover all of the cobbled sectors, just like the pros. When Karel finishes the race, he will get to watch the professional women finish the race in the velodrome. Then on Sunday, he will get VIP access to watch the male professional race. 

I'm so happy for Karel to have this experience. It's going to be a challenging 4 days as riding the cobbles (on a road bike) is no easy task. Karel said that it was so much harder than he expected. But like we experienced at the Haute Route Alps 7 day stage race, this experience will give him a greater appreciation for what the professional cyclists experience when they race (just at much slower speeds and with much less pressure to perform).

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