Paris-Roubaix on Gravel Bikes? Factor Gravel Bikes to Be Raced This Weekend

According to a report at Cyclingnews, the riders of Israel-Premier Tech were spotted on a pre-Paris-Roubaix recon ride aboard Factor Ostro gravel bikes.

Were they to actually race on the gravel bikes, it would be quite a departure from the norm. Last year, the Israeli squad raced on the aero Ostro VAM road bikes, which, according to Cyclingnews, were perched atop the team cars during the recon ride.

Israel-Premier Tech typically uses the Factor Ostro VAM race road bike. The Ostro VAM, updated just last year, features tire clearance for a 32 mm tire. Many teams including Visma-Lease a Bike are sticking to 32 mm tires for the Roubaix cobbles.

Factor claimed their Ostro Gravel was the most aero gravel bike on the market, at least when it was released. That is thanks to its deep tube shapes with an eye toward UCI compliance in road racing. The aero here is so good that Factor engineering director Graham Shrive speculated that the Ostro Gravel‘s tire clearance and new handlebar would best the road-focused Ostro at the time, at least in the wind tunnel

“We did quite a lot of testing on the cobbles after Opening Weekend with Tom Van Asbroeck and Riley Sheehan, comparing the new OSTRO VAM with the OSTRO Gravel and the overwhelming consensus was that the OSTRO Gravel would be the best choice for Paris – Roubaix.

The Ostro Gravel has a longer wheelbase so it tracks slower which is perfect for a race like Paris – Roubaix as it gives the riders more time to react, and the increased tire clearance allows us to run 32mm tires. The OSTRO Gravel is a bike built for comfort and direct feedback from our riders was that they would opt for comfort over aerodynamics.

Fortunately, given it is an incredibly aero gravel bike, there is no compromise on aerodynamics and having just completed our recon ride, we are confident this is the best Factor bike for our team this Sunday.”

We’ve confirmed with the team that they will be riding 32 mm Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR tires set up tubeless. on the Ostro Gravel.

The bikes appear to be built using a Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 drivetrain in a 2x configuration. Cranks are the FSA Black Box power meter cranks, using their K-Force carbon cranks with an FSA-branded Power2Max spider-based power meter.

The integrated one-piece bar/stem combo is the Black Inc Integrated Aero Barstem, which is shared with the Ostro VAM road bike. Interestingly, the drops actually have a 7-degree flare that starts below the shifter mounting point.

They’ve also opted for the Black Inc Forty-Five, a carbon road wheelset that has been since updated to the 48 | 58. The choice is interesting, as the Forty-Five wheels sport just a 21 mm internal rim width and 27 mm external width, in comparison to the newer wheels’ 23 mm internal and 29 mm external widths.

Israel-Premier Tech continues:

As for the wheels, the Forty-Fives are tried and tested in the race so we are very confident on them, especially given their aerodynamic qualities. With possible high winds, as we saw in today’s recon, the Forty-Fives are more suitable as they are an intermediate profile whereas the 58 has a robust profile.

In fact, no one has yet to race the famous cobbled classic on anything other than an aero or endurance road bike, despite the trend toward other gravel-friendly features like disc brakes, tubeless tires, and 1x drivetrains.

The men’s edition of Paris-Roubaix features over 55 km of rough cobbled roads, split into 29 sectors. The women face about 30km of cobbles over 17 sectors.

This story has been updated with quotes from Israel-Premier tech confirming equipment choices.