While the cobbled Classics take a visible toll on all the riders, cementing their reputation as some of the fiercest tests in professional sport, they also place a huge demand on the bike and mechanics.

Being ridden at 45km/h plus over rough cobbles isn’t the ideal situation for a road bike and that’s why in recent years there have been more and more bikes released with a focus on the demands of these events.

Almost every major manufacturer, and especially those sponsoring pro teams, now offers at least one bike designed to help riders traverse the pavé and make such brutal races a bit more enjoyable. Or, at least, a little less unenjoyable.

But it doesn’t stop there. While the relatively smooth cobbles of Sunday’s Tour of Flanders don’t require riders and mechanics to make too many changes to their machine (save, in some cases, to a switch to an endurance frame and wider tyres), Paris-Roubaix, which takes places on the harshest cobbles of the lot, is the one day of the year where you’ll see the smartest tech and the greatest amount of innovation on the part of the team mechanics to make sure that the bikes manage to survive the 253km trip from Compiègne to Roubaix in one piece. It makes the cobbled Classics season – and particularly the week of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix – one of the most demanding and stressful weeks of the year for mechanics.

Here’s what makes a bike fit for a trip to hell…