Former cyclo-cross worl🎃d champion sticks with his tried-and-true for Paris-Roubaix
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Former cyclo-cr💟oss world champio❀n Lars Boom (Rabobank) went to his familiar roots, running a Giant TCX Advanced SL at this year's Paris-Roubaix. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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R🌃abobank team mechanics added an inline adjuster for the fro🐼nt derailleur cable on Lars Boom's TCX Advanced SL. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Gian✤t cleverly uses the internal routing as a structural elementꦆ on the tapered head tube. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Lars Boom's (Rabobank) new Giro Aeon helmet hangs off of the stem just before heading out onও a short ride the day befo🥃re Paris-Roubaix. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Lars Boom (Rabobank) opted for the mechanical Dura-Ace version instead of the electronic one. Team officials said he 🔯thought the shift buttons were too sensitive on the cobbles. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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The custom low-profile arms on Lars Boom's (Rabobank) Giant TCX Advanced SL offer more braking power and finer mod🍸ulation than wide-profile models. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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The Shimano Dura-🅰Ace rear derailleur is affixed to a replaceableꦿ aluminum hanger and an aluminum dropout. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Giant claims that offsetting the seat stays and top tube allows for more flex in the sea💜t tube for increased rider comfort on rough terrain. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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There's definitely a changing tide in the Paris-Roubaix peloton in regards to carbon fiber wheels. M🔴ore riders than ever have deemed them durable enough to race on the cobbles - but only if they're paired with fat tubular tires. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Lars Boom 🃏(R🐻abobank) planted himself on a fi'zi:k Arione CX saddle. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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fi'zi:k offers its sponsored athletes a wide range of options for saddles. Here, Lars Boom (Rabobank) has chosen a Arione CX with a nylon shell and k:ium rail🧔s. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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The integrated seatmast allows Giant to run the rear brake line directly꧃ through the top tube. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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This year's parcours could have been 🍎covered in slippery, sticky mud but it's unlikely it would have kept Lars Boom's (Rabobank) bike from continuing to roll given the massive clearances all around. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Like many racers at Paris-Roubaix, Lars💟 Boom (Rabobank) had the key secteurs of pave marked on his to꧒p tube for reference. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Lars Boom's (Rabobank) tires weren't marked nor would team officials disclose their maker but they look like Dugast's Paris-Roubaix tread glued on to 30mm-wide caౠsings. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Giant integrates no crazy shaping into the TCX Advanced SL top tube, preferring just a wiꦿdeಞ and gently tapering form that helps maintain a stiff front end. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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While Lars Boom ran his familiar Giant TCX Advanced SL 'cross bike, the rest of t💟he Rabobank team used slightly modified versions of the TCR Advanced SL road bike. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Lars Booꦿm (Rabobank) gets his own personalized graphic on the head tube of his Giant TCX Advanced SL. ”Boom” means “tree” in Dutch. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Lars Boom (Rabobank) used an anatomic-bend PRO handlebar for his run at Paris-🦋Roub💮aix. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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🅘Giant's PowerCore bottom bracket design featu⛦res press-fit cups that allow for wider frame tubes. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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The down tube is 🌜offset slightly to the non-driveside in order to make the most of the available real estate on the bottom bracket. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Rabobank's🌠 Lars Boom ran a cantilever-equipped 'cross bike to get more clearance not for mud but for his pr𝐆eferred 30mm-wide tires. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Lars Boom's brakes are lightweig❀ht with compact, low-profile arms, yet still includ🌠e handy centering adjustments. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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A deep-drop hanger eases 🍰cable routing on Lars Boo🍰m's (Rabobank) Giant TCX Advanced SL. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Ball-joint sockets on the pad holders allow for toe-in and tilt ad💦justments. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Lars Boom (Rabobank) used standard Tacx Tao alum༺inum cages on his Giant TCX Ad🦋vanced SL. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Tight 11-23T spacing on Lars Boom's (Raboba♛nk) Giant TCX Advanced SL for Paris-Roubaix. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Shimano now makes matched chainrings in more Paris-Roubaix-friendlꦡy ratios, like the 53/44T combination that Lars Boom (Rabobank) used on Sunday. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Lars Boom (Ra🌼bobank) used an aluminum bar and a carbon-wrapped stem -✃ both by PRO - for Paris-Roubaix. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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Lars Boom's (Rabobank) Shimano Dura-Ace crank, pedals, front derailleur and chain gliste💧n in the sun before getting📖 coated in dust at Paris-Roubaix. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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The rectangular MegaDrive down tube on Lars Boom's (Rabobank) Gia💦nt TCX Advanced SL is notably wide at the head tube and only gets wider as it moves toward the bottom bracket. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
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There's easily a finger's width of room on all sides of the front tire on Lars Boom's (Raboꦉbank) Giant TCX Advanced SL, even with a bulbous 30mm casing. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Rabobank's go-to Paris-Roubaix machines - slightly modif༺ied Giant TCR Advanced SLs - can handle up to 27mm-w🐻ide tires but Lars Boom wanted to go bigger. (Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The modified Giant TCR Advanced SL machines that Rabobank typically uses at Paris-Roubaix can already accommodate big 27mm-wide tubular tires for extra cushioning on the pavé. But for former 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lars Boom, bigger is better.
Boom i💛nstead decided to use his familiar carbon 'cross bike, which had more than enough room for the even more voluminous 30mm-wide tubulars he wanted to use to help him float across the cobbles. Team officials wouldn't comment on the exact make and model of tire Boom was using - they clearly weren't sponsor-correct Vittorias - but the tread design and overall appearance suggested to us that they came from Dugast. Team mechanics did say, though, that Boom ran inflation pressures of just 72psi🧜.
Armed with the bigger tires' extra cushioning, Boom also passed over the traditional box-section aluminum tubular wheels of his teammates in favor of Shimano's now discontinued 24mm-deep Dura-Ace carbon tubulars. As a result, Boom's bike actually ended up being a full 500g lighter than other Rabobank bikes with an actual weight as pictured here of 7.39kg (16.29lb) - defi𝓰nitely more in keeping with some of the lighte༺r Paris-Roubaix we profiled this year.
Like a few other Shimano-sponsored riders who normally run Dura-Ace Di2 on their everyday race machines, Boom switched to the mechanical version for Paris-Roubaix despite the system's increased susceptibility to housing contaminatio🧜n and longer shift lever throws. According to team mechanics, Boom felt that Di2's super-short button throws were too sensitive when his fingers were bouncing around on the pavé and didn't want to run the risk of a mis-shift during the race.
Typical Paris-Roubaix tweaks to the otherwise standard Dura-Ace 7900 group include 53/44T gearing (which Shimano now offers in matched sets to retain the stock setup's superb shift performance) and a tight-ratio 11-23T cassette to b꧟etter suit the flat parcours. Noteworthy is the fact that unlike many other racers that day, Boom went without a chain watcher.
Shimano of course doesn't make Dura-Ace cantilever brakes, though, so Giant and Rabobank instea꧃d commissioned lightweight aluminum brakes - anodized in team orange and blue colors - from one of its prototype suppliers in Taiwan.
"These are new prototypes [done by] the same guy who makes the time trial brakes for us (Giant and Rabobank), the "standard" 'cross brakes for the R🎶abo team, and some other parts and projects with us," said team technical direc𓃲tor Andy Wollny. "It's a small Taiwanese company - no big name, but very flexible and always able to help me to make special parts in a short time."
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Boom's brakes feature simple dual-aluminum plate constru🐻ction with no frills like spring covers or fancy hardware to keep the weight low. Ball-joint cartridge holders and slotted arms allow for proper pad placement, though, and tidy set screws are on hand for easy and precise centering. The low-profile configuration also prod🌳uces more power than the wide-profile brakes Boom usually uses for 'cross, too.
Boom's bike is finished with PRO's Vibe carbon-wrapped stem and PLT Anatomic aluminum handlebar, Shimano Dura-Ace PD-7810 aluminum-bodied pedals,💧 an FSA headset, a fi'zi:k Arione CX saddle, and a pair of Tacx Tao cages.
Rider's height: 1.91m (6' 3") Rider's weight: 78kg (172lb) Saddle height, from BB (c-t): 817mm Saddle setback: 77mm Seat tube length, c-t: 554mm Seat tube length, c-c: 543mm Tip of saddle nose to C of bars (next to stem): 604mm Saddle-to-bar drop (vertical): 134mm Head tube length: 175mm Top tube length: 575mm Total bicycle weight: 7.39kg (16.29lb)
