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One-off Italian machines for Paris-Roubaix

By James Huang in Compiègne, France

published 11 April 2008

Italian Lampre rider Alessandro Ballan has only been a professional since 2004 but it didn't take...

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The seat stay assembly was clearly borrowed

The fork crown is also equipped

This looks like a careless mistake, but

Like most of the riders in Sunday's peloton

Vittoria provides Ballan with 27mm-wide tubulars

There are no fancy 'wheel systems' to be found here

Not even alloy nipples make the cut here.

Alessandro Ballan (Lampre) is set to race Paris-Roubaix with a special machine created just for the cobbles.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

Ballan has only been a professional since 2004 but is already a favorite to win.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

Ballan's frame bears no model designation and its construction is indeed unique from any frame in Wilier Triestina's catalog.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

The rear wishbone includes a novel see-through section.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

The increased rear tire clearance requires the use of a long-reach Shimano brake caliper.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

The seat stay assembly was clearly borrowed from a 'cross bike, but turned around and fitted with an eyelet to mount the rear brake caliper.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

The fork crown is also equipped with a bit of extra clearance.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

This looks like a careless mistake, but the one-off dropouts are actually fitted with a bit of extra material to provide more tire clearance at the crown without resorting to new fork blades.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

Like most of the riders in Sunday's peloton, Ballan will run with double-wrapped tape.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

Vittoria provides Ballan with 27mm-wide tubulars specially made to handle the cobbles.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

There are no fancy 'wheel systems' to be found here ; just good old-fashioned 32-hole hand-built wheels with box-section aluminum tubular rims.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

Not even alloy nipples make the cut here. These wheels are laced with more reliable brass nipples.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

A little bit of insurance goes a long way as a dropped chain can mean the difference between glory and regret.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

Ballan's bike is otherwise fairly standard fare, including the team-only 'red' edition of Campagnolo's Record Ergopower levers.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

Ballan's bike is also equipped with his usual Campagnolo Record Ultra-Torque crankset…(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

…although here a 46T inner ring replaces the usual 39T or 42T.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

Ballan is surprisingly tall at 1.9m and thus runs 175mm-long crankarms.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

A Chorus front derailleur is used here instead of Record.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

Ballan foregoes carbon in favor of aluminum for his Paris-Roubaix seatpost.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

The usual Look KeO Carbon pedals will help Ballan power along the pavé.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)

Garmin GPS computers are suddenly everywhere in the pro peloton, presumably to help remind the riders of important upcoming sections.(Image credit: James Huang/Cyclingnews.com)