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How to ride Belgian cobbles - video tips from Rapha CondorRapha Condor vid thumb

How to ride Belgian cobbles - video tips from Rapha Condor

Advice from the pros on technique and pre-ride prep for you and your bike
by Tony Farrelly
Thu, Mar 19, 2009 09:40
3

Every Spring the pros get to pound the cobbles of France and Belgium and so do thousands of sportive riders. If you're off to the Tour of Flanders Sportive on the 4th of April or you've have ever simply wondered how the pros prepare for such punishing conditions the video below from the Rapha Condor team is for you.

There are some excellent tips on prepping your bike for the cobbles from Andy, Rapha's team mechanic who lives on the Tour of Flanders' route and was team mechanic for the Belgian Mitsubish Jartazi team before moving to Rapha.  Riding advice is courtesy of  Darren Lapthorne, who spent last season racing and training in Belgium, Holland and Germany, and Tom Southam talks through pre-race perparation.

Well worth a look… The first few seconds of footage over the cobbles of the Ronde Van Vlaanderen are silent that's because on the pavé no-one can hear you scream. Probably. 

Video by Paul Rowlands at Leadout

Tour of Flanders
Rapha Condor
Cobbles
Tony Farrelly

road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.

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3 comments

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Blackhound | 15 years ago
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Think I may fit my 25's rather than usual 23's. Looking forward to it more than Christmas - but I know I'll suffer.....

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John_the_Monkey replied to Blackhound | 15 years ago
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I'm jealous of those of you doing this - my fitness is a good year at least away from this being even a remote possibility - best of luck, and enjoy yourselves!

(And yes, 25s would seem a good idea... 3 )

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dave atkinson replied to Blackhound | 15 years ago
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Blackhound wrote:

Think I may fit my 25's rather than usual 23's. Looking forward to it more than Christmas - but I know I'll suffer.....

Conti's new 700x24 Grand Prix tyres are dead good...

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