- 111th Paris-Roubaix,
- 254km
- 198 starters
- 5:56:13 (second-fastest race in Roubaix history with a time of 5:56:13)
Three cobblestone trophies – you bloody beauty!
Cancellara is now well on the way to laying himself a new driveway.
Coming onto the velodrome track with Sep Vanmarcke, Cancellara cunningly positioned himself behind the Team Blanco rider and sprinted for the line, taking the win by a bike length and making it three Roubaix victories for the Swiss rider.

Zdenek Stybar made the same mistake as his Omega Parma Quickstep team mate Stijn Vandenbergh – got too close to the crowd. The former World Cyclocross Champion somehow managed to stay upright, pinballing across the crown of the cobbles into fans on the other side of the course, but he gave up valuable seconds he couldn’t get back.


“I was in another world of riding! I still don’t know how I did it. I was dropped and pretty far back but then I started to move up. This is a race you can never give up on until the end. I had to play with him in the end because I tried to go away but he followed so then I knew it was man against man. I’m happy for the team and for me. Now I look forward to rest and a holiday. Mission accomplished,”
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Previous 10 winners










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Paris Roubaix bike modifications
As you are probably aware, these bikes they use on this ride are modified to go the journey. Below are some typical examples of bike modifications.









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Bright Velo/Cafe Velo
Bright Velo is Australia’s first dedicated bike hotel, run by Run by Wayne and Susan Hildred.
Run by cyclists for cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts, Bright Velo is the place to stay when you visit Bright.
Bright has some of the best road rides in the country with Mt Buffalo, Falls Creek and Mt Hotham to challenge you and the 250km Big Loop delivering one of the most formidable rides in the world, therefore making it an ideal location to make your home camp.







The Hotel has many room styles to choose from, including rooms in the old guest house, the motel rooms or two-bedroom units. Locked bike storage, bike racks, air and water are all on hand.
Born in New Plymouth, New Zealand in 1955, Wayne Hildred made his mark in road and track cycling in Victoria. After breaking the record held for 19 yrs by Russell Mockridge for the fastest time in the Melbourne to Warrnambool, he headed to Europe and signed with Boule d’Or in Belgium, working for sprint king Freddy Maertens. Wayne had many wins back in the eighties including two Australian Professional Road Championships.
PalmarIn
Waynes career as a professional cyclist 1978 – 1988, amongst other things, included
- Held the record for the 265km Melbourne to Warnambool race for 10 years in a time of 5hrs 36min, breaking Russell Mockridge’s 19 year record.
- Won the Australian 200km Road Championships twice and was runner-up once
- Won the Melbourne to Bendigo
- Won the Midland tour
- Won the Footscray tour
- Won the Peninsular tour
- Won the Tour of Tasmania
- Won the Tour of the Hunter Valley
- Rode nine Sun Tours 5 stage wins, tour leader and overall 4th
- Won the Auckland cup
- Third overall place in the Dulux tour
- Third stage placing in the Tour of Germany
- Finished four major European classics, Tour of Flanders, Liege-Baston-Liege, Gent Wevelgem and best placing was 16th in Amstell Gold
- Fifth stage placing in the Tour of Catelonia in the Pyrenees mountains
- Bordeaux-Paris 576km 20th in thirteen hours
- Raced three professional world championships, including Prague, Czechoslovakia, where his Boule d’Or team leader Freddy Martens became World Champion
- Won the Launceston Six-day with fellow Kiwi Paul Medhurst
- Silver medal in the Australian King of the Mountain Championship (195km)
- Twice silver medallist in Australian pursuit against world champion Steel Bishop
- Australian Cyclist of the Year 1986 most consistent in the top three
- Riding for Shane Sutton and Danny Clarke, who placed first and second in the US Championships, he finished.
These days Wayne and wife Susan are your hosts at Bright Velo. Wayne gives on-the-bike training to individuals and groups. Join him for guided rides, personal or group training, and in January on the Bright Alpine Ride for fearless cyclists from around the world.
Cafe Velo, (adjoined to the Bright Velo) is a European-inspired fully licensed retro bike cafe provides good hand-roasted Padre Coffee along with local and imported wines, and a good range of beer and cider.
Website at this link – Bright Velo
You can contact Bright Velo on:
- Email: wayne@brightcycleinn.com
- Tel/Fax 24/7 Access: +61 3 5755 1074
- Direct Mobile : +61 437518848
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Website of the Week – Kaggle
Kaggle Connect is a people-and-tools consulting platform that connects companies to the elite of the Kaggle community. Kaggle works with companies of all sizes to solve pressing business problems by extracting insight from data. Kaggle has helped GE, Allstate, Pfizer, Merck, Ford, Tencent, Facebook and more improve sales forecasting, retain customers, accelerate product development, gather insights from social media and lower operating costs.
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Toy of the Week – Fabian Cancellara’s Trek Domane 6-Series Paris-Roubaix
Cancellara made few changes from Sunday’s Flanders to deal with the far harsher cobbles and flatter parcours of Roubaix. His 25mm-wide FMB Paris-Roubaix tubular tires have given way to 27mm-wide ones – run at approximately 5.5/6 bar (80/87 psi) front/rear according to mechanic Roger Theel – and his usual 53/39T chainring combination has been changed to a matched 53/42T combo.
til next week
Tight Spokes
iPib