Feeling the pressure in Arenberg
The Roubaix recon is always the hardest recon of the year, both mentally and physically. No matter how many times we all said on the bus to Denain, “Yeah let’s just take it steady,” everyone loves a dig on at least one sector.
I must admit I do have a couple of favourite ones which I made an effort to be on the front for to test the tyre pressure at race pace. This is because it’s easy to go too low, as it’s a lot more comfy when you’re going slower, but in the race you’re going a lot faster so you can afford to put a bit more air in.
My rather horrific crash last year may have been a result of going too low with the tyre pressure, which was definitely a risk I wasn’t going to take this year.
We played it smart this year and went out in the afternoon on Thursday to avoid the rain and the mud. I saw some photos from other teams who had some spills on the cobbles. Mud and cobbles are a deadly mix.
Our recon started the sector before Arenberg, and we rode the whole course to the finish. I think ideally it would have been better to see the course up until that point, as in the race there were only about 35 of us left by the time we got there.
Riding on the cobbles of Arenberg after only 20 minutes of riding isn’t the most pleasant experience, especially with the chicane. Typically in a recon you come into Arenberg at, say, 45-50kph but with the chicane we probably started it at 30. Even sat on the wheel it just felt like it went on forever.
There isn’t a cobble sector anywhere near as bad as Arenberg – it really is just stones thrown randomly onto a trail. Its harshness does mean it’s the best sector to test tyre pressure for the race though. If you hit the rim more than a couple of times you’ve definitely gone too low. This year for me was the smoothest run at it I’ve had. Maybe next year I’ll copy Mathieu van der Poel and just ride on the gravel path next to the cobbles – save the hands for Sunday.