Originally Posted by Stv
The Roubaix leg of the TDF race is primarily comprised of a very rough cobblestone roadway, as illustrated above in the previous post/pic. The Specialized Roubaix with it's several Zertz and gel inserts are designed to give you a more comfortable and vibration reduced ride. Hence the "Roubaix" moniker for marketing purposes.
I don't ride on cobblestone, but the Specialized/Roubaix does have considerable less road buzz transfer to the bars or saddle.
You will probably find that the cassette is a Tiagra and the chain a Sora, a level or two below 105. My chain did wear out at 5k kl. mark and we replaced the cassette and the chain with an Ultegra set.
Enjoy your new ride.
umm...paris-roubaix is a seperate race, not a part of the tour. thats not to say that there arent parts of the tour that are on cobbles, but that pic is of George Hincapie in Paris-roubaix, the seperate spring classic race.