Paris Roubaix

nothing like that.

it's a reasonably pricey french place, on battersea rise FFS.

much as I don't care for rapha's stuff, and certainly the price of it, I know for a fact that they make no money from events like this.

I have to agree with this! They obviously gain some brand recog, but they promote events like this cos they (Simon and Luke) are into cycling. That's why they got into the cycle clothing business in the first place, as opposed to starting some other company designing high end products for premium prices.