The
121st edition of the men's Pararoo Bay was a display
of sheer power as,
spoiler alert, Mattia Vanderpool broke away from the leading group
with 60 kilometres to go and by
50K to go, the Chase had all but given up
trying to bring him back.
But as we know, Pararoo Bay is a race where
Bitech plays a massive role.
Every year there's new developments,
new tech being tested and ever more ways the teams
try and tame the cobbles.
So in 2024, what were the biggest tech trends?
Well, for starters, across both men's and women's pelotons,
the move to one by was vast.
Mainly seen on Stram sponsored teams,
the benefit of not dropping a chain and simplified gear
shifting with the use of satellite shifters was widely adopted.
Since the race holds its difficulty in the cobbles rather
than any harsh gradients,
it was easy for riders to simply adopt A wider
range cassette to give them the gears that they needed.
Also, some may have been looking to optimise drivetrain efficiency
by keeping a super straight chain line as Ineos rider
Josh Tarling had a massive
62 tooth chain ring fitted to his Shimano Spect Pinarello
Dogma.
Sadly though, thanks to a bottle which was slightly too
sticky,
he was then later disqualified from the race.
I am really hoping that next year he will have
a better shot because he is certainly a rising star.
While Josh's 62 tooth chain ring was the biggest eyesore
in use,
there were plenty of other riders using single chain ring
setups in the mid 50 range.
Thanks to the widespread adoption of one by setups.
There was also a myriad of chain catches being used.
These range from OEM parts from brands like Wolf Tooth
and K Edge through to some slightly more imaginative 3D
printed solutions.
Israel Premier Tech decided to opt for one of the
most bizarre bike choices.
They jumped aboard the Factor Ostro Gravel.
That's right, they used the gravel bike for Peru Bay.
It's reported that the team were running some relatively wide
34C Continental GP 5000 STR tyres.
Arguably it's not the most ridiculous idea.
The factor Ostro Gravel is a very aero gravel bike
and the position and clearance would stand them in good
stead over the technical terrain.
However, their top place rider finished seven minutes down on
the winner in
31st. Perhaps had the course been muddier or the weather
been a little more dreary than they may have had
an advantage,
but this time round it might not have been the
right move.
The style of bike which did seem to be on
the rage was out and out aero bikes.
In fact Uno X rider Alexander Kristoff decided to use
a prototype aero bike from the team sponsor DARE,
predicted to be named the Velocity Ace.
It looks to be as aggressive as they come with
a super deep head tube making use of the new
UCI rules.
It was a similar story for the rest of the
men's peloton as aero bikes look to be the go
to choice where the riders had the option.
It was a slightly different story for the women as
they had a slightly wider variation of bike choices with
Sun opting for the Trek Domani over the Madone or
some opting for the Canyon Ultimate over the Air Rd.
but even that could be set to change over the
coming years.
Clearly the current sweep of endurance bikes,
including the specialised Rue, they are no longer suitable for
the cobbled classic.
Perhaps they've become too soft,
or perhaps aero bikes have just become versatile enough to
the point where they can be used very successfully on
the hardest of parkours.
Personally, I think it's a mix of the two.
I think it is fair to assume that the bikes
which made the podium did so because of one simple
fact.
They can all accept much wider tires.
Maybe, just maybe, this is the most influential factor on
the versatility of modern Rd.
bikes. As such, the Peloton's favorite tyre size was
32C, with only a handful of teams providing an exception
to the rule.
The biggest tyres we saw sat on British National Champion
Fred Wright's bike as he was using some
35C Continental
GP5000A STRS which pushed his Morita's tyre clearance to the
very limit.
Little Trek were actually running some prototype Pirelli tires that
despite saying they were 32 millimeters wide when paired with
the new Bond Trader ALS Pro
49 V gravel wheels, they measured up at
34.5mm. This big volume tie will have helped Maz Pederson
run a low pressure and enjoy a nice big contact
patch with the cobbles.
It's worth remembering that the maximum size of tyre that
can be used in a cyclocross race is 33 C.
So not only is the
peloton's choice of 32C1 we know that can be ridden
on technical terrain,
but it might also be why the current cyclocross world
champion won the race.
This is kind of why I love Mattia Vanderpol's setup
so much.
Other than some wide tyres,
some double wrap bar tape and some tyre inserts,
it's just the normal Canyon Air Rd.
No gimmicks or tricks up its sleeves,
just big rubber and a rider who has buckets of
technical ability.