PARIS-ROUBAIX FEMMES – HISTORY IS MADE!

Lizzie Deignan made history on Saturday, winning the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Femmes onboard her Trek Domane. Lizzie from Otley, Yorkshire added this historic victory to her amazing palmarès which already included a World Championships Road Race win and Olympic road race silver medal. Racing for the Trek-Segafredo Women’s professional road racing team Lizzie chose the Trek Domane to take on the infamous cobles of northern France.

Swapping her usual lightweight Trek Emonda for the Domane endurance road bike Lizzie was able to negotiate the cobbles in comfort and control thanks to the bike’s more forgiving geometry, clever carbon layup and Trek’s special Isospeed decouplers featured at the headtube of the frame and at the seat mast.

Spec’d with a SRAM Red eTap wireless 12-speed groupset Lizzie’s bike featured a single chainring up front rather than the usual double chainring reflecting the nature of the Paris-Roubaix parcours – flat but incredibly treacherous. A small chain catcher above the chainring combined with SRAM’s fluid-clutch rear derailleur meant that despite the rough and ready nature of the cobbled kilometers Lizzie’s chain stayed securely located. For the gear ratio nerds out there Lizzie ran a 50T chain ring up front combined with a 10-33T 12-speed cassette.

The Trek-Segafredo Women’s team ran Bontrager Aeolus RSL 37 carbon wheels with 30mm wide Pirelli P-Zero Race TLR tyres; bucking tradition the team did not run tubs as most teams have previously, opting instead for a tubeless setup giving the riders better protection from pinch flats even when running particularly low tyre pressures helping to add extra grip and traction on wet, slick cobbles.

Riding off the front of the bunch before the first cobbled sector Lizzie Deignan surprised her fellow racers with an extremely long bid for glory and then continued to ride the 80 remaining kilometers solo to take the victory in the iconic Roubaix Velodrome while others floundered in her wake and some of the biggest pre-race favourites crashed out in the difficult riding conditions. Congratulations to Lizzie and Trek on making history at the Paris-Roubaix Femmes onboard the Domane!

 

Written by Johnny Dodgin

All images by SWpix.com

 

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