Slipstream head mechanic Kevin Grove.

Sitting in the Slipstream Team hotel the night before Paris Roubaix, CycleOps Power Director of Marketing David Cathcart caught up with Slipstream's Head Wrench Kevin Grove. Kevin reported that the team was feeling pretty good given the combination of the youth and form of Martijn Maaskant, 14th at Flanders, and the health and experience of Magnus Backstedt, 2001 winner. However, as it goes in cycling, there are ups and downs, and no one predicted the unfortunate mechanical that took Maggy out of the race at 165 KM. But the team's inkling about young Martijn Maaskant held true as the rider stepped up to fill his team leader's shoes with a remarkable 4th place finish.

Felt has lengthened the stays for mud and tire clearance and added a kevlar patch to the top tube in case of impact.

Slipstream team mechanics prepared for Paris Roubaix's brutal race conditions with a few equipment modifications. Felt developed a team bike with longer chainstays for greater mud clearance and reinforced top tube for impact resistance. Zipp built wheels for the team using their Clydesdale series rims for durability over the pave shod with Vittoria Corsa Evo CX tires. CycleOps Power provided 2.4 PowerTap hubs with steel axles vs. the usual alloy for extra stiffness. And riders requested a few modifications of their own from the team mechanics, such as Magnus Backstedt's custom handlebar setup with pipe insulation underneath the bar tape to add cushioning for the relentless cobbles.

ALL of the Slipstream wheels are built up with PowerTaps on Zipp rims. Vittoria outfitted these wheels with some sweet rubber. Handspun Corsa Evo CX's that offer a larger air chamber, more supple sidewalls and rounder surface for improved rolling over the cobbles.

Many of the riders are using mouse pad foam as well as plumber's insulation to pad their bars.

A future Roubaix champ? Maaskant is interviewed by Paul Sherwen of VS.

The day was its usual test of physical and mental fortitude, and when the dust settled from a scurry of attacks to establish the lead breakaway, Slipstream found themselves with a rider in the 7-man group, young Martijn Maaskant, whose company included Tom Boonen, Alessandro Ballan, and Fabian Cancellara. While these 3 eventually broke away from their other 4 breakmates, Maaskant held his own in the chase group to finish 4th - an impressive result for the young and up-and-coming rider.

What does it take to pull off a 4th-place finish at Paris Roubaix? Martijn Maaskant came from the Rabobank espoir program and was ‘sought’ after by Team Slipstream. He has finished high up in Paris Roubaix Espoirs before. He rode a PowerTap on a Zipp 303 aboard his standard Felt Z1 with some additional tape on the bars. His numbers for the race were as follows:

Compare that to Slipstream rider Magnus Backstedt who was forced to leave the race at KM 165 due to a mechanical:

See more photos from inside the team in David's personal Picasa Web Album.

Read on to see power graphs from Martijn Maaskant's race.