Not since 2010 has the identical rider gained the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Again then, that rider was Fabian Cancellara. This 12 months, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) will head into the ‘Hell of the North’ because the excellent favorite, as defending champion, and off the again of an unimaginable journey at Flanders.
Within the ladies’s race too, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), Flanders champion, a former Roubaix winner herself, has the prospect to make historical past. In simply the fourth version, it’s not outrageous to recommend a double double.
Main sickness and harm points throughout Visma-Lease A Bike’s males’s workforce put doubtful the massive showdown between Wout van Aert and Van der Poel that the majority followers anticipated at this 12 months’s Roubaix.
Van Aert grew to become the most excessive profile sufferer in final Wednesday’s Dwars Door Vlaanderen, abandoning the race after coming down closely in an enormous crash that was seemingly attributable to a gust of wind. A number of fractures together with collarbone and ribs  dominated the Belgian out of this 12 months’s ‘Hell of the North’.
This might imply that on-song Dane Mads Pedersen steps in to fill the breach opened by Visma’s woes, becoming a member of Van der Poel in what would certainly be the favoured pair within the males’s occasion. Whereas Pedersen was caught up in the identical crash because the above at Dwars, he might need totally recovered by Roubaix.
The ladies’s subject has fortuitously been much less stricken, with – on the time of writing – favourites equivalent to Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), her team-mate Lorena Wiebes, and Longo Borghini all match and on type.
Kopecky, Wiebes, and their sturdy SD Worx workforce will probably be seeking to bounce again on the first alternative after a disappointing Flanders, however Lidl-Trek have been sturdy all Classics season, and might need discovered the important thing to countering SD Worx on the cobbles.
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In the meantime, Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) has gained just about all the things inside her energy aside from Roubaix, and will probably be trying so as to add to her 250 highway wins subsequent Saturday. The record of additional contenders is countless, particularly when one displays on Alison Jackson (EF Training-Cannondale) and her shock win from the break eventually 12 months’s race. It might be anybody.
Paris-Roubaix 2024 Key Info
Date: Saturday April 6 (ladies); Sunday April 7 (males)
Location: Denain to Roubaix (ladies); Compiègne to Roubaix (males)
2023 winners: Mathieu van der Poel (males); Alison Jacksono (ladies)
TV: Discovery+/Eurosport
Distance: 148.5km (ladies); 259.7km (males)
Paris-Roubaix 2024 route
There aren’t any dramatic course adjustments to both males’s or ladies’s races this 12 months, which start in Compiègne and Denain respectively and end, after all, within the iconic Roubaix velodrome.
Each males’s and ladies’s races are three kilometres longer than final 12 months, with the boys driving extra pavé than they’ve completed previously 30 years, because of a pair of returning sectors which have been inserted early on within the race at Briastre (sector 26) and Le Hameau de Buat (sector 24). The full variety of cobbled sectors stays at 29, throughout a complete 55.7km.
The ladies’s race, whereas additionally gaining three kilometres to take it as much as 148.5km in whole, does not achieve any new (or certainly returning) cobbles amongst its 17 sectors. As a substitute the course has been routed round a bit deemed high-risk by organiser ASO, which provides the gap.
The Carrefour de l’Arbre (translated as crossroads of the tree) is a perennially important sector in Paris-Roubaix that comes with round 15km left to journey. With every cobbled sector ranked out of 5 stars, the Carrefour is one in all solely three five-star sectors within the males’s race, and solely two within the ladies’s.Â
The race is usually gained right here, as the ultimate choice is made and essentially the most drained riders are came upon within the face of assaults by the strongest. Together with the four-star Camphin-en-Pevèle sector that softens up the riders’ legs instantly beforehand, and the two-star Gruson sector that comes right away afterwards, the Carrefour is the equal of the Oude Kwaremont-Paterberg double-punch within the Tour of Flanders.
Paris-Roubaix 2024 sectors
Every cobbled sector is ranked from one to 5 stars, with 5 the toughest. The ladies’s race hits the cobbles at sector 17, Hornaing in Wandignies.
29: Troisvilles in Inchy (km 96 – 2,2 km)Â ***
28: Viesly in Quiévy (km 102,5 – 1,8 km) ***
27: Quiévy in Saint-Python (km 105,1 – 3,7 km) ****
26: Viesly in Briastre (km 111,3 – 3 km)Â ***
25: Vertain in Saint-Martin-sur-Ecaillon (km 122,6 – 2,3 km)Â ***
24: Capelle in Ruesnes (km 129,3 – 1,7 km)Â ***
23: Artres in Quérénaing (km 138,3 – 1,3 km) **
22: Quérénaing in Maing (km 140,1 – 2,5 km) ***
21: Maing in Monchaux-sur-Ecaillon (km 143,2 – 1,6 km)Â ***
20: Haveluy in Wallers (km 156,2 – 2,5 km)Â ****
19: Trouée d’Arenberg (km 164,4 – 2,3 km) *****
18: Wallers in Hélesmes (km 170,4 – 1,6 km) ***
17: Hornaing in Wandignies (km 177,2Â – 3,7 km)Â ****
16: Warlaing in Brillon (km 184,7 – 2,4 km)Â ***
15: Tilloy in Sars-et-Rosières (km 188,2 – 2,4 km) ****
14: Beuvry in Orchies (km 194,5 – 1,4 km)Â ***
13: Orchies (km 199,5 – 1,7 km)Â ***
12: Auchy in Bersée (km 205,6 – 2,7 km) ****
11: Mons-en-Pévèle (km 211,1 – 3 km) *****
10: Mérignies in Avelin (km 217,1 – 0,7 km) **
9: Pont-Thibault in Ennevelin (km 220,5Â – 1,4 km)Â ***
8: Templeuve – L’Epinette (km 225,9Â – 0,2 km)Â *
8: Templeuve – Moulin-de-Vertain (km 226,4Â – 0,5 km)Â **
7: Cysoing in Bourghelles (km 232,8Â – 1,3 km)Â ***
6: Bourghelles in Wannehain (km 235,3Â – 1,1 km)Â ***
5: Camphin-en-Pévèle (km 239,8 – 1,8 km) ****
4: Carrefour de l’Arbre (km 242,5Â – 2,1 km)Â *****
3: Gruson (km 244,8 – 1,1 km)Â **
2: Willems in Hem (km 251,5 – 1,4 km)Â **
1: Roubaix (km 258,3 – 0,3 km)Â *
Paris-Roubaix 2024 riders to observe
Mads Pedersen
Lidl-Trek
****
A quick-finishing rouleur within the form of 1 former ‘Mr Paris-Roubaix’ Tom Boonen, Pedersen is within the type of his life, and whereas few eyes will stray removed from Van der Poel, former world champion Pedersen, who was fourth right here final 12 months, shouldn’t be discounted from taking his first victory within the well-known Roubaix velodrome.
Matteo Jorgensen
Visma-Lease A Bike
***
One of many few riders within the Dutch workforce who has not at this level been hit by crashes or sickness previously weeks, it so occurs that Jorgensen can be on nice type, having gained Dwars Door Vlaanderen final week with a late solo effort. Crew-mate Tiesj Benoot, additionally driving nicely, might present helpful backup and a possible plan-B.
Mathieu van der Poel
Alpecin-Deceuninck
******
Van der Poel, the champion of Flanders for a 3rd time, is on fiery, decided type. Instigating strikes or pushing them to succeed, at this level he’s the rider to beat. One subject for him might lie in the truth that Pedersen is the faster finisher, so he’ll wish to lose him earlier than the end.
Pfeiffer Georgi
dsm-firmenich PostNL
***
Georgi has all the time been there or thereabouts within the Classics, each this season and final – energetic within the strikes however by no means topping the rostrum within the largest races. Nonetheless, she continues to be simply 23 and solely getting stronger. The London rider represents a severe podium menace and her big-name rivals will low cost her at their peril.
Lotte Kopecky
SD Worx-Protime
*****
In Gent-Wevelgem Kopecky put in an early assault, she defined, simply to stave off boredom – earlier than occurring to guide out her team-mate Lorena Wiebes for the win. With wins at Strade Bianche, the UAE Tour and Danilith Nokere Koerse already this season, she will afford to have enjoyable and be beneficiant too. But it surely appears like she is biding her time for Paris-Roubaix.
Marianne Vos
Visma-Lease A Bike
****
Paris-Roubaix is among the few main Classics Vos has but to win. At 36, the Dutchwoman continues to vie for the highest locations right here, although this might be one in all her final stable probabilities to win. She took tenth place final 12 months on the head of a chasing group of favourites behind winner Alison Jackson (EF Training-Tibco-SVB). This season she has already gained Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, with a creditable ninth at Strade Bianche her most up-to-date consequence.
