Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won yesterday's women's Paris-Roubaix: at the end of the race, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider was able to share her experience with the revolutionary tire pressure system that Wout van Aert and his teammates will use today.

"It made an enormous difference and it's fantastic to have this system to use in the race" - said the phenomenal French cyclist - "It's definitely an important incentive".

One of the main topics of Paris-Roubaix is GRAVAA, a system for adjusting tire pressure during the race, through two controls positioned on the handlebars. A true turning point, because on cobblestones it's better to have a lower tire pressure, while on asphalt, which corresponds to about eighty percent of the course, it's better to have a higher pressure.

Visma-Lease a Bike has established a collaboration with GRAVAA and so Wout van Aert will also be able to use this revolutionary system to hunt for his first Roubaix. "It was fantastic to be able to ride fast on the cobblestones with lower wheel pressure. We were much more comfortable compared to our competitors, the bike bounced less and our rear wheel had more grip. And then being able to inflate the tires again on asphalt was fantastic".

This will certainly be one of the most technological Paris-Roubaix and some experts are wondering how fair it is, compared to opponents, to use a system that appears to be a decisive advantage.

"I adjusted the tire pressure in every sector. The pressure release is extremely fast. On asphalt the tires were at 4 bar, while on cobblestone sectors it was at 2.1 and 2.2 bar. Being able to ride the last fifteen kilometers with 4 bar wheels made an enormous difference".

The revolutionary system had been tested at the Tour of Flanders, where Ferrand-Prévot finished second behind world champion Lotte Kopecky. "The GRAVAA system makes the bike four hundred grams heavier, but since Roubaix is a flat race, it's not that important. In the last few days, I studied the course on Veloviewer to see where I would need to inflate, deflate, and re-inflate the tires. You have to plan carefully because you need to use some extra watts to operate the pump if you want to increase pressure. Deflating is very fast, but re-inflating to four bars takes a few minutes".

Paris-Roubaix has always been a perfect race to test new materials, and this inflation and deflation system, which today will only be used by Visma-Lease a Bike, could make the real difference in the race, even determining the winner. "It was fantastic to be able to pedal with this system and have it available for the race. Because I think in the future all teams will mount something similar at Paris-Roubaix".