Roubaix 'debutant' Hincapie explains why there were so many punctures: "Then it doesn't matter what tyres you have"

It was three hours of complete chaos at Paris-Roubaix. From the moment the riders hit the cobbles, punctures were everywhere. Every major favourite flatted at least once, with Mathieu van der Poel the biggest victim. But how is this possible, given that every team is obsessed with new innovations and selecting the perfect tyres?

Johan Bruyneel found it striking too. "The equipment has definitely improved," he said on his THEMOVE podcast. "The wheels are better, the tyres are better and wider. Pogačar was even riding 35-millimetre tyres at the front. When George [Hincapie] raced, the maximum was 27 millimetres at Roubaix. But we saw so many punctures today. We keep hearing that the manufacturers are constantly improving."

Visma | Lease a Bike were not allowed to start with the Gravaa tyre pressure system on Sunday — it was banned by the UCI. Wout van Aert won the race regardless. Lidl-Trek did have a clever gadget: they borrowed from BMX and used the so-called Odyssey system. "Lidl-Trek used something special. Their manager said: our riders won't puncture. That wasn't true," Bruyneel laughed.

All jokes aside, the number of riders who flatted was certainly remarkable. Mads Pedersen had early problems. Tadej Pogačar followed shortly after. Mathieu van der Poel suffered a double puncture in the Arenberg Forest. Wout van Aert rode with a flat tyre later in the day. "I do think there were many more punctures than normal today. But it was perhaps also more noticeable because all the big names flatted," Bruyneel said.

But how on earth is it possible that so many top riders would puncture? Teams use special Roubaix-specific tyres, fit ingenious systems to the wheels to prevent flats, and ride wider rubber. Hincapie — who debuted at Roubaix as a team director this year with his Modern Adventure Pro Cycling squad — thinks he knows the answer.

It is not the equipment, according to the American, who finished second himself in 2005 and holds the record with 17 participations.

"The speed is so much higher that they have a much harder time picking the right lines. Then it doesn't matter what tyres you have: if you're going through a corner at 50 kilometres per hour, you can't choose which stone you hit. They're hitting them with far more intensity than they do on the recon rides."

It is a plausible explanation. Not that it helps Van der Poel after his double puncture on the Trouée d'Arenberg. It was a painful sequence: he first took a bike from Jasper Philipsen, but the pedals were different from his own. He had to wait for Tibor Del Grosso, who fitted a new wheel to his leader's bike. Van der Poel then punctured again a minute later. His chance of a fourth victory up in smoke.

Bruyneel understands the panic at Alpecin-Premier Tech. He would, however, have preferred a different approach. "Apparently Philipsen has been riding new prototypes all year, which require different shoes. You can say it wasn't smart, but normally Van der Poel would never take his bike. Van der Poel knew that Del Grosso wasn't far behind him, and should have taken his bike straight away."

But the Belgian also knows: when a teammate hands you a bike, you get on it fast. "From that moment on, his goal was to get out of Arenberg as quickly as possible. On whatever bike." Still, he is also critical of Del Grosso. "I don't know why Del Grosso didn't just give him his bike. Maybe he had the same pedals as Philipsen. If that's the case, it was a big mistake."

Bruyneel clearly not aware at the time of recording the podcast that Del Grosso had also punctured in the Forest, and was giving his teammate his one remaining good wheel.