While Tadej Pogačar's Paris-Roubaix bike was a pretty drastic departure from the norm, for eventual race winner Wout van Aert and the rest of his Visma-Lease a Bike men's team, things are pretty much business as usual; a marked change from last year when the men's squad rode the cobbles aboard the significantly less aero Cervélo Soloist.
However, this lack of cobble-taming tech wasn't entirely by choice. The team has spent years trialling a clever device called the Gravaa KAPS, which can deflate and reinflate tyres on the fly, but just two weeks ago, they received a letter from the UCI banning the tech outright. The team's head of performance spoke out to express his 'utter astonishment', but had no time to appeal.
A day ahead of the race, Cyclingnews got up close to Van Aert's bike.
Despite being a pretty stock bike, the Cervélo S5 still looks the business. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The bayonet fork of the S5 is a feature Wout's bike shares with his UAE rival. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The 32mm Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres have a bit of room under the shaped downtube, but not much (Image credit: Will Jones)
Ar the back the room is even more scarce. A 34c tyre may fit, but it'd be risky. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Prologo's new, modular €481 Choice saddle was on Wout's bike, and has been designed to be more aero than standard road saddles. Neatly the mechanics had taped over the adjustment dual for the saddle angle on the seat post to save fractions of a watt. (Image credit: Will Jones)
172.5mm cranks, so not a trend follower here. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Standard SRAM Red road groupset here, with a 10-28t cassette. No XPLR hacks to be seen. (Image credit: Will Jones)
This cockpit is an absolute monster: Very little rise, narrow, and looooooong. I didn't have a tape measure to hand, but trust us; it's extreme. (Image credit: Will Jones)
To be safe his Garmin had the lanyard fitted. Better to lose a small bit of wattage than your power data. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The mount is neat and looks like it's injection-moulded plastic. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Even the bolts to install the Wolf Tooth chain keeper are taped over. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Here's a better look at the tape job on the seatpost. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Reserve 49/42 wheels are shallower than the team usually uses, and even though the stage is flat there are durability considerations to bear in mind. (Image credit: Will Jones)
A tight road block is beneficial on such a flat course to maintain the optimal cadence. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The empty bottle cage boss had a lovely neat circle of tape in place of the bolt to save a few grams, spot the waxed chain as well. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The front tyre had some breathing room, which may come in handy if things get filthy. (Image credit: Will Jones)
The wheels were laced to DT Swiss 240 hubs, slightly more durable than the top flight 180 models. (Image credit: Will Jones)
It looks like Van Aert has his bars double-wrapped, but not the all the way across the tops. (Image credit: Will Jones)
His hoods aren't angled in, likely as the cockpit is relatively narrow as it is and he doesn't want to fall foul of the UCI rules. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Camelbak has come on board as a new sponsor recently, so new bottles for the team are in order. (Image credit: Will Jones)
Van Aert starred in Belgium's version of The Masked Singer, dressed as a squirrel. A reminder features on most of his race bikes. (Image credit: Will Jones)
There's actually a fair bit of room under the chain keeper. I suppose if it does come off it's going to be easier to reinstall like this. (Image credit: Will Jones)
A 54t chainring; not the biggest we'll see, but still pretty hefty. (Image credit: Will Jones)
A single spacer under the cockpit - he's human after all! (Image credit: Will Jones)
The shallower front wheel isn't playing to the new 'road mullet' trends. (Image credit: Will Jones)
A square of bar tape in the bottle cages aids retention. (Image credit: Will Jones)
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Will joined the Cyclingnews team as a reviews writer in 2022, having previously written for Cyclist, BikeRadar and Advntr. He’s tried his hand at most cycling disciplines, from the standard mix of road, gravel, and mountain bike, to the more unusual like bike polo and tracklocross. He’s made his own bike frames, covered tech news from the biggest races on the planet, and published countless premium galleries thanks to his excellent photographic eye. Also, given he doesn’t ever ride indoors he’s become a real expert on foul-weather riding gear. His collection of bikes is a real smorgasbord, with everything from vintage-style steel tourers through to superlight flat bar hill climb machines.
