The Paris–Roubaix tech tips and tricks to copy off the pros for extra speed and comfort on the bike

Forget the Tour de France, it’s usually the one-day Classics where the pro teams and riders pull out all the stops with their latest and most envelope-pushing cycling tech... and that's great, because often the rides that you and I do look a lot more like the dodgy lanes of Paris–Roubaix than the perfectly smooth tarmac the pros usually get to ride! So, without further ado, here are some ideas of what you can copy to optimise your bike for both speed and comfort. 

1. Consider wider tyres, and pay attention to wheel width

2025 Paris Roubaix 35mm tyres (credit: ZacWilliams/SWpix.com)

It’ll come as little surprise that teams choose to use wider rubber than usual when riding races as rough as Paris–Roubaix. You’ve no doubt heard this before, but we should be copying them.

Yes, a 26mm tyre might be fastest on buttery smooth tarmac, but most of the time we’re riding potholed B-Roads where something like a 32mm tyre, just like lots of pros went for at Paris–Roubaix, is probably the best compromise.

> Best road bike tyres

In fact, some riders opted for even wider than that. For example, Lotte Kopecky, Taco Van der Horn and Fred Wright used massive 35mm tyres, and still averaged 40kph.

It would be easy to think: "But I’m not riding cobbles, so I’ll go for something narrower". Well, only 20% of Paris–Roubaix is cobbled. If wider tyres were that much slower, the pros just wouldn’t use them.

2025 Paris Roubaix Tudor Pro Cycling GRC wheels (credit: Tudor Pro Cycling)

One thing that you should bear in mind before switching is how the tyres interact with your wheel rims. A bulging tyre is not only slower, but I also have a theory about it being less stable too, because air can’t pass over it as smoothly. That’s probably why Tudor Pro Cycling and Uno-X decided to use gravel wheels instead of their usual road- specific ones, citing that the DT Swiss GRC wheels provide an outstanding combination of aerodynamics and comfort when paired with wider road tyres.

No, this doesn’t mean we should all go out and buy gravel wheels for our road bikes -  but if you want to be fast and comfortable , you should pay attention to the internal and external width of any wheelset that you’re looking at buying. There are a lot of brands out there trying to sell you products that were out of date five years ago!

2. Double wrap your bar tape

2025 Paris Roubaix Van der Poel (credit: Canyon)

It looks as though eventual winner Mathieu Van der Poel left his prototype Shimano Dura-Ace wheels in Flanders, but we’ll be keeping an eye out for them in future races. One of the cheaper changes that Van der Poel made to his bike at Roubaix, though, was double-wrapping his bar tape.

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This is no doubt to offer more protection on what is often considered the most brutal event of the road cycling calendar. If you too want to take additional punishment without wearing gloves, then this could be a quick and cheap fix.

3. Tailor your gearing to the terrain you ride

2025 Paris Roubaix Lidl Trek 1x Sram XPLR Trek madone (credit: Trek Factory Shop)

Continuing with the gravel theme from earlier, Lidl-Trek riders such as Mads Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven have regularly been seen using a gravel-specific groupset throughout the Classics season.

In a recent press release, they said that the decision to go 1x and use the SRAM Red XPLR groupset was “easy”. In fact, the discovery was kind of accidental when the team’s technical support manager used his Trek Checkmate gravel bike in Luxemburg, and realised that the cobbles were similar to Paris–Roubaix. 

The 13-speed, 10-46 cassette apparently gives the riders access to the same gear range they have on their 2x set-ups. Riders were so impressed, they said they’ll never go back to 2x on the cobbles because it’s just so good.

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2025 Paris Roubaix Lidl Trek 1x Sram XPLR (credit: Trek Factory Shop)

Leven also added that Lidl-Trek are the first ones using it, and that if anybody is doing the same next year, they’re just "copying our idea"... think you’re going to struggle to patent that one Glen!

Can us amateurs learn anything from this? Well, yes: tailor your gearing to the riding you do, not the riding a bike brand thinks you do or what a shop tells you to do. If you do lots of climbing then by all means, go for a gravel groupset on your road bike. Sack off your inner ring and go 1x like Josh Tarling at Roubaix perhaps. What works for you doesn’t need to work for everyone!

4. Please don't copy this! 

Matthew Brennan, 2025 Paris-Roubaix (Getty) (credit: road.cc)

This next one is something that I hope doesn’t get copied any more than it already has. Putting gravel groupsets on road bikes is one thing, but wearing an aero helmet to a cobbled classic or on your local chain gang ride? It will make you faster, but please no!

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2025 has been a funny old year in cycling (and in general) so far, and one of the stranger sights has been seeing the Visma–Lease a Bike team among others rocking up to road stages wearing their time trial helmets. Maybe it’s EF who are to blame for this, as they arguably kicked things off with the POC Procen Air complete with a visor. Kask then covered all the Ineos riders' ears with the Nirvana, and now, in my opinion, things have hit an all new level of silly.

I’m all for aero gains, but seriously? The helmet pictured above on the head of Mathew Brennen I think looks horrendous, and I really hope that the UCI steps in. I actually think they would have some grounds too, because the longer the helmet, the bigger the moment arm, I’m not saying that TT helmets are unsafe per se, but it’s hard to imagine them being as protective as more conventional road bike helmets. 

So no, this isn’t a look you and I want to start rocking round the local lanes - but if you do want to go faster, then looking at an aero road helmet such as the Abus GameChanger, Specialized Evade, Trek Ballista or Van Rysel FCR could be an easy way of saving a few watts over a more ventilated option.

5. Ride an aero bike?

2025 Paris Roubaix Prevot cervelo S5 (credit: Sram)

Other than Pogačar, who seems to be stubbornly sticking to the V4Rs, aero bikes have ruled this year’s classics. Van der Poel and Philipsen on their Canyon Aeroad CFRs, Decathlon AG2R opting for the RCR-F over the RCR and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot on a Cervelo S5, (pictured above). If you want to go fast, it looks like this is the way to go.

> Best aero road bikes

I think a big part of this is that aero bikes can now fit wide tyres. You can fit a 32mm tyre in most of them, and that combined with refined frame layups make them a lot more comfortable than aero bikes of old.

2023 Canyon Endurace CFR jamie road.cc kit (credit: road.cc)

Should we be riding aero bikes? Well, if you want to go fast then yes - but luckily nearly all performance-focused bikes now have at least some aero design cues, so there are lots of options out there. 

6. Get your tyre pressures dialed

2025 roubaix Pauline Ferrand-Prévot gravaa system (credit: road.cc)

You might have noticed the device pictured above on the wheels of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Marianne Vos’ bikes. That is a Gravaa adaptive tyre pressure system that basically allows you to change tyre pressures on the fly. 

The idea behind it is that you can ride the road sections with a higher pressure, and then drop them for a bit more comfort and control on the cobbled sections and rough bits. I highly doubt that - at 3,900 euros for a Reserve wheelset featuring this tech - many people will be rushing out to buy it yet, but it is an insight of where things might be going in the future. It certainly seems like it worked for Ferrand-Prévot!

2025 roubaix Pauline Ferrand-Prévot gravaa system 2 (credit: road.cc)

I’d personally love one of these on my gravel bike. I'd have more pressure for the road ride out to the gravel tracks, then I could drop the pressures without stopping. Hopefully the price will come down as this technology matures.

Can we copy it? Yes, if you have very deep pockets, but I think mainly this just emphasises the importance of tyre pressures in general. Use an online calculator and get them dialled if you want to be both fast and comfortable. 

7. Focus on aero clothing before upgrading your bike

Tadej Pogačar, 2025 Paris-Roubaix (credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

One of the biggest changes that you can make to your equipment to go faster on the bike is changing your clothing. We didn’t see a single rider at Paris–Roubaix not wearing either aero socks or aero overshoes. 

Average speeds at Paris–Roubaix have been getting faster and faster, and while we might not average 45kph on our rides, aero is still well worth paying attention to.

2024 Inside Ekoi video aero socks (credit: road.cc)

When you think about the fact that a set of £20 aero socks make a similar difference to upgrading from a climbing bike to aero frame, then they’re easy to recommend. As for the rest of your kit: well, if we wanted to get faster, then we’d definitely make sure we had a properly fitting clothing before spending a shed load more on a new bike.

8. Fuel properly!

Tadej Pogačar hit by own team car at Paris-Roubaix (credit: TNT Sports)

It takes quite a lot to fluster Tadej Pogačar, but missing a feed seemed to do the trick! I know we love talking about bike tech, but the single biggest thing that you can do on your long rides to get around them quicker and more comfortably is fuelling properly.

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The pros now consume an obscene amount of carbs on their rides. Their pockets were almost bursting on the start line of Paris–Roubaix with gels, rice cakes and other goodies. Then there’s the bottles, with soigneurs on literally every single segment offering drinks to try and ward off cramps, or even worse, the dreaded bonk.

2024 heat chamber hydration jamie drinking bidon (credit: road.cc)

We don't need to eat as much as the pros, but we can start eating before we think we need energy. Make sure you take enough fuel out with you, because keeping on top of this is very much a not-so-marginal gain!

Let us know if you'll be copying anything of the pros in the comments below.