Paris-Roubaix Femmes podium bikes: Three different approaches from Kopecky, Balsamo and Georgi

Lotte Kopecky's S-Works Tarmac SL8 from Paris Roubaix.

On the third iteration of Paris-Roubaix Femmes, SD-Worx Protime managed to end the Lidl-Trek dominance and secure their first victory, thanks to their superstar world champion, Lotte Kopecky. 

The Belgian won the sprint from a small group of six after 148.5 km and covered 17 cobbled sectors before the famous lap and a half of the velodrome. She pipped the former world champion, Elisa Balsamo, who finished second; whilst the rising British youngster Pfeiffer Georgi came third. 

The full overview of the day's events - including Kopecky's mid-race mechanical - can be found in our excellent race report written by our race team, but here we're going to focus on the bikes. At the end of Paris-Roubaix, the organisers kindly prop the bikes up on a makeshift podium inside the velodrome and leave them for tech nerds like us to get up close with, take pictures of, and generally just gawp at. 

Naturally, the winning bike of Lotte Kopecky is the one we care about most; the share of real estate her bike has been given in this article is evidence of that, but all three bikes here have just podiumed at the hardest one-day stage race in the calendar, so we also found it interesting to compare the differing approach each team has taken with their equipment choice. 

Kopecky raced and won on the Specialized Tarmac SL8 S Works, whilst Balsamo rode Trek's Domane model. Third-placed Pfeiffer Georgi was aboard the Scott Foil. Interestingly, there were three different genres of road bike on the podium. An all-rounder, an endurance bike, and an out-and-out aero bike which we examine below. 

Kopecky's Tarmac SL8 victorious after the dust had settled on a brutal day of racing (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

As we predicted in our tech predictions, and then had confirmed by Specialized a few days later, Kopecky opted for the S-Works Tarmac SL8, notably shunning the Roubaix for its namesake race despite that bike having won the race 7 times in its 20-year history. The Tarmac is an all-rounder race bike; striking a best-of-both-worlds balance between lightweight and aero. 

Meanwhile Balsamo raced on Trek's Domane, a more comfortable, forgiving option than Trek's all our aero Madone model (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Meanwhile, 2nd place Balsamo was on the Domane, Trek's endurance-focussed bike, with its wider tyre clearance and bump-smoothing Isospeed Decoupler technology. With that said, it was the 'RSL' (Race Shop Limited) version which bears more aggressive geometry akin to a race bike than the Domane SLR 9 I reviewed in 2023. 

Georgi raced aboard the Scott Foil, the brands aero bike 

In third place, Pfeiffer Georgi was on the Scott Foil, a bike that gives no doubt about its aero credentials with its deep profiled tubes and one-piece cockpit. 

Up close with Lotte Kopecky's Paris-Roubaix-winning bike

The S-Works Tarmac SL8, sitting pretty on the top step of the podium (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

It used a good mix of componenty from Specialized and SRAM, as well as their subsidiaries (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

1X chainsets were a common theme in the race, and Kopecky was using a WolfTooth chain guide, which had been partially cut down. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Her chainring was a 50T (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

And she had paired that with a 10-33t casette (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

The casette itself bore the rainbow oil-slick finish, to celebrate her World Champion status (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Up front, she was running old SRAM eTap Multiclic shifters so she could shift from the tops. This is despite SRAM now offering Wireless versions of their Blips (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Her cranks were 165mm, 5mm shorter than both Balsamo and Georgi (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

At the end of those cranks, she had Time's XPro 15 pedals... (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

...Their bottom side given a special 'World Champion' paint (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

On the whole, the bike was clean. This leading edge of the rear derailleur was the only part to have really caught a significant layer of dust (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Her top tube was adorned with an Incredible Hulk sticker (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Her Roval Rapide wheels were set up tubeless... (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

...with vastly differing valve lengths from front to rear (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Sometimes computers can rattle in their mount, so a bit of cloth - what looks like physio tape here - can work wonders to keep it sturdy. Note, she also used round handlebars rather than the Roval aero cockpit. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Her stem was dressed with the day's key points (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Unusually, Kopecky's stem was given an extra spacer above the stem, and a Zipp top cap, rather than the supplied pieces from Specialized (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Her bars were narrow, and she's tilted her shifters in too. We think she was pushing the UCI's new 10-degree rule on shifter angle a little bit, but she got away with it! (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Centre-to-centre, her hoods measured just 30cm wide (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Interestingly, she wasn't using a Specialized saddle. Instead she uses a Syncros Belcarra (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

She also had thru-axle handles fitted, meaning if she punctured, she would be able to remove the wheel while waiting for the team car (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Tacx Deva cages did the duty of holding onto her bottles (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

The Belgian posed for photos for the crowd of fans at her team bus after the race. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Elisa Balsamo's Paris-Roubaix Femmes bike

As mentioned, Balsamo used Trek's endurance-focussed Domane bike, rather than the aero Madone or lightweight Emonda (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Like Kopecky, Balsamo also uses SRAM, and she too ran a 1x chainset (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

But while Kopecky ran a 50T chainring, Balsamo used a 52T (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

...paired with a smaller 10-28T cassette (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Balsamo and Kopecky agreed on tyre size though, with the Italian also running 32c tyres (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

The Italian also ran satellite shifters, but in the 'sprinter' position, rather than on the tops as Kopecky did. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

The Bontrager cages seen here are fitted with small rubber bands to aid grip (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

We're a fan of this 3D-printed race number holder from Raceware (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

The bike is covered in a mixture of dried sugary drink, sweat and muck from the cobbles (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

She'd been wrenching on the bars so much that the rubber cover on her SRAM shift levers, which are a team-only mix of Force and Red, has begun to peel loose (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Slightly longer crank arms for the taller Balsamo, who is running 170mm (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

All of the Lidl-Trek riders' SRAM Red rear derailleurs were fitted with rubber bands to keep the batteries safe (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Her bike was fitted with Aeolus Pro 49V gravel wheels, rather than road wheels. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

...and they were wrapped in prototype Pirelli tyres (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

The Wahoo Elemnt Roam had yet to be stopped, but we chose not to sneak a peak at her power for the day. Keep scrolling to see Pfeiffer Georgi's max power, which was still displayed on her computer (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

She is using a traditional bar and stem, rather than an integrated one-piece cockpit. The believed reason for this is that it's easier to grip than the larger flat surfaces often found on aero bars. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

These are an essential item at Roubaix. Neither rider suffered a puncture, but if they did, this little quick-release thru-axle would let them remove the wheel while waiting for the team car (Image credit: Josh Croxton)

Pfeiffer Georgi's Paris-Roubaix Femmes bike

Pfeiffer Georgi, the 24-year-old British road race champion riding for DSM Firmenich PostNL, was aboard Scott's Foil aero bike

It's fairly common in the women's peloton for riders to have free rein on their saddle choice, but it's not too common to see riders choose a time trial saddle

The deep aero seatpost on the Foil has a cut-out at the rear to offer some compliance, note the elastomer insert to aid comfort 

While Balsamo went with traditional bottle cages and rubber bands for grip, Georgi went with old-school metal cages that offer a much more secure hold

Like Balsamo, Georgi was running 170mm cranks

It's less common in the Shimano-sponsored camps for riders to run 1x chainsets, and in this case, Georgi was using a double with 54/40T rings

Unlike her fellow podium-mates, Georgi had a one-piece cockpit, with the tape wrapped most of the way across the tops

Her bike, tagged by the UCI for post-race inspection, has her name subtly stickered on the seat tube

Dura Ace C50 wheels wrapped in Vittoria Pro Corsa tubeless rubber 

The race transponder has been removed at this point, but this cut down piece of inner tube was used to hold it

A closer view of the Syncros seatpost elastomer which Georgi mentioned in her post race press conference 

An 820 watt max power output for the British star 

Sector notes on the stem for Georgi to keep track of what sectors are coming and when