SRAM’s Paris-Roubaix

By Simon Whiten

Terpstra Triumphant in SRAM’s Paris-Roubaix

SRAM equipped teams may have failed in their bid to win the recent Tour of Flanders but things went the way of the American manufacturer when Niki Terpstra won the Queen of the Classics, Paris-Roubaix.

Terpstra on his way to winning Paris-Roubaix

It was a fantastic race with attack after attack and break after break being brought to heel before, with just 6km to go, Omega Pharma – Quick-Step’s Niki Terpstra made the critical attack leaving behind the pre-race favourites in a group of 11 which included Fabian Cancellara, Peter Sagan and Sep Vanmarcke, as well as his own team captain, Tom Boonen, and teammate Zdenek Stybar, to take a hard-earned victory in the most monumental of cycling classics which included 28 cobbled sectors totaling 51.1km.

Terpstra’s appropriately named Roubaix

The solo victory was the climax of a brilliant team effort from Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Pro Cycling, which for the 112th edition of Paris-Roubaix consisted of Terpstra, Boonen, Stybar, Iljo Keisse, Stjin Vandenbergh, Matteo Trentin, Nikolas Maes and Guillaume Van keirsbulck.

Zipp Service Course SL bar and stem

The classics specialists managed to get three in the final group with 10km to go but it was Terpstra who made the decisive move and while Boonen remains the leader of OPQS’ Classics team, in such a strong team any leader is always going to be hard pushed by his teammates. Dutch rider, Terpstra has already taken victories at Tour of Qatar and Dwars door Vlaanderen, and placed at the Hell of the North before with a fifth place in 2012 and third last year.

SRAM Red 22 shifters

Niki Terpstra rode a 58cm Specialized S-Works Roubaix with full SRAM RED 22 groupset, including DoubleTap shifters with Reach adjust, front Yaw with chain spotter and short cage rear derailleur and Aerolink brakes, but a 175mm Specialized crankset, albeit with SRAM 53×46 chainrings.

Zipp 303 Firecrest wheels

SRAM Red 22 Rear Derailleur

The bike uses a SRAM RED 22 chain to drive the Roubaix proven Zipp 303 Firecrest tubular wheelset via a PG1170 11-26 cassette. Zipp provide 120mm Service Course SL stem and trendy narrow 40cm SL-88 bars, with a Zipp Service Course SL 27.2mm, zero-setback seatpost.

SRAM Red Aerolink Brakes

 
[rps-include blog=127.0.0.1 post=29548]

SRAM