Race Tech: Gent-Wevelgem, April 9, 2008

Pro riders go with more aggressive wheel choices

By James Huang in Deinze, Belgium

The deep-section Zipp 808 tubular rear wheel…

Team-only Continental tubulars

Skil-Shimano's tubulars tires

Ambrosio is the rim brand of choice

The Gent-Wevelgem course still included some nasty cobbled sections, but they still weren't as bad as those in Paris-Roubaix and there weren't nearly as many of them. Moreover, Wednesday morning in Belgium brought refreshingly clear skies, calm winds and dry roads that stayed that way nearly all the way to the finish.

As such, teams and riders went decidedly more aggressive in their wheel choices for the day. Many were still on the traditionally spoked box-section tubular rims like they did during the Tour of Flanders, but several key players cracked out the full aero hoops as they raced for the finish line.

2007 Paris-Roubaix winner Stuart O'Grady of Team CSC chose an 82mm-deep Zipp 808 rear wheel paired with a more moderate 58mm-deep Zipp 404 up front. Tire choice was a fairly standard 23mm-wide Vittoria Corsa EVO-CX tubular.

In fact, it looked like O'Grady's sole concession to the cobbles relative to his usual road setup was a pair of Bontrager harmonic dampers inserted into the ends of handlebars. While it always seemed to us that these little widgets actually did work as advertised, this was pretty much all the confirmation we could have asked for (plus it also helps that we've spotted Team High Road's George Hincapie using them before).

Like O'Grady, Hincapie opted for a deep-section Zipp carbon tubular rear mated with a medium-section (since when is 58mm considered 'medium'?) Zipp 404. The entire Milram team, on the other hand, set out on 50mm-deep Shimano Dura-Ace carbon tubulars front and rear across the board.

As for tires? It was mostly standard stuff here, although Gerolsteiner's Marcus Fothen beefed up a bit with his 25mm-wide Schwalbe tubulars.

Photography

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Images by James Huang/Cyclingnews.com

• CSC's Stuart O'Grady ran a mostly standard rig for Gent-Wevelgem.
• The deep-section Zipp 808 tubular rear wheel…
• …is paired with a slightly shallow Zipp 404.
• O'Grady opted for fairly standard 23mm-wide Vittoria tubulars.
• However, last year's Paris-Roubaix winner did fit his bike with Bontrager BuzzKill harmonic dampers. We always thought they worked; apparently O'Grady (and Hincapie) think so, too.
• O'Grady's tried-and-true FSA crank (labeled as a K-Force Light but clearly more of the SL-K variety) gets the job done.
• The Speedplay Zero pedals on O'Grady's bike aren't quite like the one-off versions he had on his Paris-Roubaix bike, though we have yet to see what he'll use on Sunday.
• A Prologo saddle caps O'Grady's machine.
• High Road's George Hincapie also opted for aero carbon tubular wheels for Gent-Wevelgem.
• High Road is racing on Giant's new TCR Advanced SL frame.
• It's common practice in the pro peloton to pair a deeper rear wheel with a shallower front for better handling.
• No carbon steerer tube for Hincapie!
• Hincapie greets a fan as he heads for the start line.
• The Colnago Extreme Power of Milram's Martin Müller is ready and waiting.
• The entire Milram team set off with 50mm-deep Shimano Dura-Ace carbon tubulars.
• The side of the Caisse d'Epargne bus was awash in red prior to the start.
• Black, white and red is a popular color combination this year and few have done it better than Pinarello.
• The painted-to-match stem is a nice touch.
• Caisse d'Epargne mostly ran relatively shallow-section wheels.
• Like many teams, though, some of the rims were clearly reserved only for special occasions. When was the last time you saw this rim in Campagnolo's catalog?
• 22mm tires were apparently wide enough for Caisse d'Epargne today.
• Just prior to the start, the bike of Peter Wrolich (Gerolsteiner) is loaded with bottles and ready to get going.
• Gerolsteiner riders were among those that preferred traditional box-section rims for Gent-Wevelgem.
• Ambrosio is the rim brand of choice for Gerolsteiner.
• Gerolsteiner's Thomas Fothen went with wider 25mm tires.
• Fothen went with wider tires for the cobbles but was apparently confident in his integrated carbon bar.
• Gerolsteiner's Peter Wrolich went with a carbon seatpost (but with a two-bolt head to keep from slipping).
• Even with the short and steep climbs of the day's course, a 23T cog was apparently all these riders needed.
• Gerolsteiner's S-Works Tarmac SLs are still fitted with non-replaceable derailleur hangers for crisper shifting.
• Baden Cooke of Barloworld tested out the team's new Bianchi on the Belgian roads.
• Cooke's spare bike was equipped with traditional box-section wheels.
• The front hub was made by Miche…
• …as was the rear.
• The matching quick-release skewer was a nice-looking alloy bit.
• FSA provides the Barloworld team with much of its equipment, including the chain…
• …brake calipers…
• …and crankset.
• Cooke's spare had box-section rims but he went with aero Mavic Cosmic Carbones for his primary rig.
• Thor Hushovd of Crédit Agricole put his team-issued Look 595 to the test.
• Hushovd preferred to run Shimano's 50mm-deep Dura-Ace carbon tubulars.
• Team-only Continental tubulars offered Hushovd good grip on the pavé.
• The Shimano-specific spoke magnet usually holds reasonably well on its own but a little tape never hurts when it comes to cobbles.
• Hushovd opts for an aluminum PRO stem , but then again, he may not have much of a choice since it is part of PRO's Hushovd-signature line.
• Acqua e Sapone's DeRosa King 3 is a vision in red.
• The King 3 uses a pseudo-integrated seatmast design.
• Campagnolo's Red-edition Ergopower levers were on heaps of bikes in the peloton.
• Luca Paolini went deep for Gent-Wevelgem.
• Paolini also prefers fi'zi:k's ultralight Arione k:1 carbon-shelled saddle.
• Paolini's mechanic has to shave away a bit of the post in order to accommodate the saddle choice.
• Other Acqua e Sapone riders preferred a more traditional wheel.
• Interestingly, Garmin GPS computers were a common sight (there's obviously no computer here, but it's a Garmin mount).
• UCI Pro Continental Team Mitsubishi-Jartazi was in the mix on its Basso bikes.
• The Mitsubishi-Jartazi team supposedly isn't officially sponsored by SRAM, but the company still set them up pretty well to make sure they were properly equipped for the race, bringing the total number of Red-equipped teams to three.
• Euskaltel-Euskadi riders hit the cobbles on new '09 Orbea Orcas.
• The AG2R team is now riding on the BH G4.
• Skil-Shimano's tubulars tires were labeled as Michelin Pro2 Races, but Michelin still doesn't make tubulars. These were made in Thailand, likely making them either a Vittoria or Challenge.
• Think Belgians are crazy about cycling? Street vendors sold replica jerseys, hats… and even toy team buses.

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