Comments on: Roubaix ’06 – The Year of the Loser http://cyclocosm.com/2006/04/roubaix-06-the-year-of-the-loser/ Pro Cycling News, Commentary and Special Features Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:45:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: pietro http://cyclocosm.com/2006/04/roubaix-06-the-year-of-the-loser/comment-page-1/#comment-320 pietro Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:24:00 +0000 #comment-320 I'm curious about what happened to Boonen's special Roubaix Time rig, since there appear to be 2 photos of him kitted up and nearly ready to start with the bike featured in the cyclingnews.com feature: <BR/>http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2006/apr06/roubaix06/index.php?id=image028<BR/>and<BR/>http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2006/apr06/roubaix06/index.php?id=image046<BR/>There wasn't any mention of Boonen having a mechanical early in the race which would have necessitated a bike swap. It is clear, however, that the bike with the black bar tape does not have a race number which leads me to think a switch was made probably just prior to the gun going off. Who knows. If Boonen's anything like Belgian 'cross racers then he likely has several bikes at his disposal, maybe the good weather forecast (dry, fast conditions) warranted a very last second tweak in strategy and bikes.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, in my opinion there's not really a need for "magic bikes". All you need is box rims, fat tubulars, and cushy bar tape. I’m curious about what happened to Boonen’s special Roubaix Time rig, since there appear to be 2 photos of him kitted up and nearly ready to start with the bike featured in the cyclingnews.com feature:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2006/apr06/roubaix06/index.php?id=image028
and
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2006/apr06/roubaix06/index.php?id=image046
There wasn’t any mention of Boonen having a mechanical early in the race which would have necessitated a bike swap. It is clear, however, that the bike with the black bar tape does not have a race number which leads me to think a switch was made probably just prior to the gun going off. Who knows. If Boonen’s anything like Belgian ‘cross racers then he likely has several bikes at his disposal, maybe the good weather forecast (dry, fast conditions) warranted a very last second tweak in strategy and bikes.

Anyway, in my opinion there’s not really a need for “magic bikes”. All you need is box rims, fat tubulars, and cushy bar tape.

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