Peter Sagan will ride Paris-Roubaix on a custom version of Specialized’s new Roubaix bike, and like his Bora-Hansgrohe teammates, Tom Boonen and the rest of the Quick-Step Floors team, he has opted against disc brakes due to the risk of a long, possibly race-losing wait for a wheel or bike change on the cobbles.
The new Roubaix is only available to the public with disc brakes but Specialized have made a limited production model with dual mount rim brakes for its professional riders. There was speculation about if this respected UCI rules, which state that bikes must be available for sale to the public. However Specialized said the rim brake model was approved by the UCI because it is only a change in brake type and minor changes to geometry, rather than a completely different bike.
Sagan tested the bike during Wednesday’s Scheldeprijs and then gave it a final shakedown with his tyres of choice for Paris-Roubaix during a recon ride on Thursday. It seems Sagan has opted to ride Shimano Dura Ace mechanical gears, instead of his usual choice of Di2 electronic gears, as he tries to reduce the risk of any problems on the pave.
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The images provided by Specialized show Sagan’s frame equipped with the new Shimano Dura Ace Di2 but he rode on mechanical gears and an older Dura Ace chainset on Thursday. He is likely to ride on 53x44 chainrings, fitted with a white 4iiii dual sided power metre.
Sagan’s bike stands out for its grey colour scheme that has turns iridescent when it catches the light. It is subtle but offers a flash of rainbow colours to match Sagan’s world champion jersey.
The Specialized Roubaix offer some extra comfort and shock absorption thanks to Specialized’s Future Shock suspension cartridge in and above the head tube and the low seat post bolt position on the down tube. The spring and damper cartridge can be changed to tune the stiffness of the bike but the pro riders have a more rigid option.
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