Key points

 The 120th Paris–Roubaix will be held on Sunday, 9 April, on a 256.6 km course stretching from Compiègne to Roubaix Velodrome and featuring 54.5 km of cobblestones. One of the 29 sectors on the menu —Haspres— is returning to the race nearly two decades after its latest appearance.
 Paris–Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift, whose third edition will be held one day earlier on Saturday, 8 April, has been lengthened to 145.4 km (versus 124.7 km in 2022). Following the extended roll-out from Denain, the women will merge onto the men’s course to tackle an identical succession of 17 cobbled sectors (for a total of 29.2 km).

No-one can tame the cobblestones of Paris–Roubaix. The riotous 2022 edition showed that, in our day and age, it is not unusual for a favourite to find himself on the wrong end of a split before the race even starts in earnest —as Mads Pedersen is painfully aware—, for fortune to favour the bold —as Dylan van Baarle can attest— or for a cruel twist of fate to dash the hopes of a rider who just a few seconds earlier seemed invincible —as happened to Matej Mohorič. The menu of the 120th running of the race will serve up another hearty ration of drama, starting with the traditional first contact with the cobblestones in Troisvilles, just under 100 kilometres after the start in Compiègne. A bit further down the road, the changes made to the course this year will make their appearance in the run-up to the Trouée d’Arenberg, with the return of the Haspres sector (km 139.6), unseen since spring 2004. In 2001, this 1,700-metre section, which Thierry Gouvenou freely admits is „not very well paved”, went hand in hand with the debut of the Haveluy sector, coming a dozen kilometres later. From there, it is a long, hard slog to the finish. The highlights are the „five-star“ sectors that will separate the wheat from the chaff, namely, the Trouée d’Arenberg (km 161.3), Mons-en-Pévèle (km 208) and the Carrefour de l’Arbre (km 239.5).

The alteration made to the third edition of Paris–Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift comes before the first cobblestones, but it is likely to make itself felt at a later point in the race. Two distinct loops on windswept roads near the beginning of the course will add an extra 20 kilometres or so to the total distance. The multiple changes of direction in the preliminary phase could trigger a brawl among the favourites, who will merge onto the men’s course upon reaching the cobbled sector in Hornaing. The no-holds-barred contest will continue for another 82.4 kilometres (including 29.2 km of cobblestones) before the finish in Roubaix Velodrome. Another two decisive moments will come in Mons-en-Pévèle (km 96.9) and the Carrefour de l’Arbre (km 128.3), where every time without fail —Lizzie Deignan in 2021 and Elisa Longo-Borghini in 2022— the future winner has been alone at the front. Can anyone buck the trend?

Paris-Roubaix Challenge

Saturday April 8th 2023 – Amateur cyclists will face the legendary “Hell of the North” and its mythical cobbles a few hours before the professional pelotons and compete in one of the three proposed distances: 70 km (8 cobbled sections), 145 km (19 cobbled sections) and 170 km (29 cobbled sections).
©A.S.O.

More information about Paris-Roubaix Femmes on paris-roubaix-femmes.fr
More information about Paris-Rouaix on paris-roubaix.fr