The Estonian champion finished 10th two years ago and wants to go better this time around.

“Paris-Roubaix is my favorite race, because of the cobbles,” Madis said. “It is such a legendary race. I think it is the most important one in the world, at least for me. I have done well here in the past and want to improve the result that I did two years ago. My goal is top ten.”

Madis will rock 32 mm Vittoria Corsa Pro tires with Vision SC 48 i25 rims over the stones at Paris-Roubaix. Vision’s hybrid road/gravel wheelset is designed for high-speed durability over the roughest terrain with a wider 25 mm internal rim diameter to better accommodate wider tires. Paired with 32 mm Vittoria Corsa Pros, the wider rim will give Madis’ tires a more stable, less bulbous shape that won’t wobble from side to side at lower pressures. Reducing lateral tire movement improves traction, efficiency, and aerodynamics, both on the cobbles and the road. At pressures lower than 3.5 bar, Madis’ tires will be able to absorb high-speed blows from the stones with less energy loss.

“On recon, the bike felt great,” Madis said. “The new wheels that we have for this year are definitely helpful. I'm confident in the material that we have.”

Together with engineers from Vision and Vittoria, our performance team tried a number of different wheel and tire combinations to find the best one for the race.

“We did a lot of testing before Paris-Roubaix,” said EF Pro Cycling sports director and Head of Technical Operations Andreas Klier. “We’re going to ride 32 mm Vittoria Corsa Pro tires with a fairly new model of wheels from Vision. They have a wider inner rim, which will allow us to run a little lower pressure than last year. That rim with that tire was a very fast combination when we tested it in the lab. This race is getting faster and faster. With 50-plus kilometers of cobbles, we do need to think about comfort, but we can’t forget speed. We’re expecting a 45 km/h-plus average, with a south-southwest wind turning into a westerly wind towards the last two hours of the race, which will give us a very fast race. That means the asphalt sections will really matter. Obviously, it’s still the cobbles that are crucial and this setup is very fast on both.”

Madis’ LAB71 SuperSix Evo is Cannondale’s ultimate race bike. Its ultralight and responsive Series 0 carbon frame is more than robust enough for the worst cobbled roads in France. Madis will pilot Roubaix from his Cannondale SystemBar Road cockpit, linked to his Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt, SRAM RED groupset and SRAM RED XPLR AXS derailleur.

“We will ride a single-chainring setup from SRAM with a 10-28 cassette,” Andreas said. “Beyond that, it’s basically the normal setup that we would also use to ride up l’Alpe d’Huez.”

That means Wahoo SPEEDPLAY AERO pedals and a Fizik Adaptive R1 saddle. Fizik’s Solocush bar tape will protect Madis’ hands from the impact of the stones, so he can focus on the pain in his legs.

Madis is built to blast over the cobbles. So is his bike.

Check out the full specs of Madis Mihkels Cannondale LAB 71 SuperSix EVO.