Next up: Paris-Roubaix
Paris-Roubaix is the Queen of Classics as they say. It is the queen of the cobble races, that’s for sure. From the race distance of 258.3 kms, 54.8 km are ridden on cobbles, divided into 30 cobble sectors.
But Paris-Roubaix is not only the Queen of Classics, it’s also the Hell of the North. The term was used to describe the route of the race after World War I. Organizers and journalists set off from Paris in 1919 to see how much of the route had survived four years of shelling and trench warfare.
Henri Pélissier, winner of the 1919 edition, said:
We enter into the center of the battlefield. There's not a tree, everything is flattened! Not a square meter that has not been hurled upside down. There's one shell hole after another. The only things that stand out in this churned earth are the crosses with their ribbons in blue, white and red. It is hell!
Another interesting description of the race comes from Chris Horner in 2004:
The best I could do would be to describe it like this: they plowed a dirt road, flew over it with a helicopter, and then just dropped a bunch of rocks out of the helicopter! That's Paris–Roubaix. It's that bad. It's ridiculous.
I guess the worst landing sites of these rocks are the Trouée d’Arenberg (Trench of Arenberg), the Mons-en-Pévèle and the Carrefour de L’Arbre. As most of the very difficult cobble sectors are not used in daily life, the course is maintained by Les Amis de Paris–Roubaix, a group of fans of the race formed in 1983. What makes the race hellish is also the weather, at least if it’s raining. Or as Sean Kelly once said:
A Paris–Roubaix without rain is not a true Paris–Roubaix. Throw in a little snow as well, it's not serious.
But speaking of hell: While the Ronde van Vlaanderen has many political controversies, Paris-Roubaix comes with religious ones. The first edition was planned to be held on Easter Sunday. And as you can imagine, the roman Catholic Church was not very fond of it, as the riders and the spectators would not have time to attend mass on the most sacred day of the liturgical year. The legend says that the organizers, two Roubaix textile manufacturers, promised a mass would be held for the riders in a chapel 200m from the start. Long story short, the first Paris-Roubaix in 1896 was held two weeks before Easter Sunday, only to take place exactly on Easter Sunday the next year.
Originally, the race was from Paris to Roubaix (who would have thought) but changed its start many times. Sind 1977, it starts in Compiègne, 80 km north of Paris. Since 1943, the race ends in the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux in Roubaix, with the exceptions of 1986, 1987 and 1988 when the finish was in the avenue des Nations-Unies, outside the offices of La Redoute the mail-order company which sponsored the race.
The name of the Vélodrome honors both André Pétrieux (father), a café owner and founder of the Vélo-Club de Roubaix, and his son, who was a local official in charge of sports for the city. While not professional racing cyclists themselves, they were pivotal figures in establishing and maintaining the local cycling infrastructure that hosts Paris-Roubaix.
But who wins such a difficult race, about which Theo de Rooij said in 1985:
It's a bollocks, this race! You're working like an animal, you don't have time to piss, you wet your pants. You're riding in mud like this, you're slipping ... it's a pile of shit"
Btw., when then asked if he would start the race again, de Rooij replied:
Sure, it's the most beautiful race in the world!
Well, it’s the classics specialists again: powerful, robust riders with exceptional bike-handling skills, high power output and the ability to endure severe vibrations and shock over rough cobblestones. Some sprint skills help if you don’t arrive solo. And you need to be lucky not to have to give up before the finish because of anything that might happen during the race, like a puncture (or several), a fall (or several), an injury, or a small black dog running under your wheel, as happened to Bernard Hinault in 1981. He still won that edition though, only to never ride it again after 1982. Two riders won the race four times: Roger De Vlaeminck and Tom Boonen. If Mathieu van der Poel wins this year, he will catch up to form a trio with the two Belgians.
Although Paris-Roubaix is flatter than the Ronde van Vlaanderen, but has more difficult cobble sectors, there are 13 riders, that won both races in the same year, including Mathieu van der Poel in 2024. Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara achieved that feat even twice.
In C4F, that’s a bit more difficult, esp. due to form setting. Anyway, three riders did it: Koli Koknoka (Cycling Polski) in 2007, Hugo Scheichelbauer (Schappy, now Pinkblue Cycling) in 2008 and JesusRafael Soto (Alkworld) in 2018. Record winning team still is Big Donkey with 5 wins, one win in front of Falkenbier (not active anymore, lazy Schaffhuusener Bock) and Alkworld. Last year’s winners were Georges Passerieu (Alkworld, real winner in 1907 btw.), Darius Schiffbauer (Rsc Spree), Satwiksairaj Rankiredddy (Lenny SnakeCycling) and Jan Mlakar (Harryaner).
The list of favourites this year includes all riders with 80+ pavé 60+ sprint and a team that can support its leader as long as possible. There are currently three riders with 86 or more pavé in the game: Lukas Winzenried (Big Donkey), Gereon Schiffbauer (Rsc Spree) and Ctirad Kosta (Czech lions). All three with more than 60 sprint. While Gereon might have had RVV as a goal his teammate (and most likely relative) Felice Schiffbauer (85.1 pavé, 70 sprint) should have PR as his highlight in April. Atsushi Murasakibara (Pokemonogatari) or Wim Wijkstra are two more riders with at least 80 pavé and 70 sprint, while Tanja Bachroder (Montania Crew) stands at 80.3 pavé and impressive 76 sprint. Of course, there are many more teams with good line ups for PR, and as always: the truth is on the road (or cobble stones this time). A hell of a race indeed.
I didn't mean to say it. But I meant what I said.
