my wheels were punctured in the sprint. I got a puncture in Arenberg ”- OA Sport

Sonny Colbrelli confessed to having won the Paris-Roubaix 2021 after two punctures and to be arrived at the Velodrome with punctured wheels! The European Champion conquered the Hell of the North thanks to a stellar feat, but this technical problem further embellishes his exploits and amplifies the caliber of his apocalyptic triumph on a Sunday characterized by rain and mud.

The Brescian talked about it in an interview granted to Gazzetta dello Sport, explaining that he won with the tubeless (without inner tube): “32 mm, a prototype of the Continentale not yet sold until yesterday. Little inflated: 3.4 atmospheres at the front and 3.8 at the back. On the cobblestones they flow better, they are comfortable, they soften the blows and you are calmer. I did the sprint with the flat tires and the tubeless tires saved me“.

The 31-year-old specifies: “I drilled twice: the first in one of the initial sections, the second in the Arenberg Forest, after 30 seconds. But the foam in the tubeless, a kind of putty, sealed the hole and I didn’t have to stop. The mechanic after the arrival measured the pressure of the wheels: I had 3 in front and 2.8 in the back“. A technological innovation that saved him in this Classic Monument and without which he would not have been able to grow: for once in his life, Sonny Colbrelli was lucky in the race and was able to show off all his talent.

Photo: Lapresse