Why this is the year to watch the Paris-Roubaix bicycle race — even if you never have before

By Stan Purdum

It’s a logical extension of our shared love for bicycling that some readers of Road Bike Rider may like watching bicycle races on TV. But it’s an appetite that could lead to a lot of sitting on our couches instead of sitting on our bike saddles. After all, this year’s schedule of pro-cycling races, which is typical of most years, consists of 36 events in 13 countries and on four continents for a total of 171 days of racing between January 17 and October 11. And in many cases, there are two versions of those 36 events you can watch: the men’s race and the women’s race.

In the USA, you can view many of these events simply by subscribing to two streaming services: Peacock and Max, which have split the pro-bicycle events between them. That’s plenty of time to build our own palmarès as couch potatoes (palmarès is French for “list of achievements,” which in the pro-cycling world, refers to a rider’s accumulated accomplishments, wins and notable results throughout his or her career).

Wisely, when it comes to a choice of watching a bunch of cycling pros ride or going out to ride ourselves, most of us will choose the latter, as well we should. 

All of that said, however, this is a good year to watch the Paris-Roubaix race, especially the men’s version (more about that in a moment), though the woman’s event is worth your time as well. The race, which dates back to 1896 and has taken place 121 times since then, is a one-day event starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. The men’s race this year is 161 miles long; the women’s is 92 miles. (Here’s a cool video intro to the race.)

The women’s version runs on Saturday, April 12 and the men’s on Sunday, April 13. Both are streamed on Peacock, though if it’s not convenient to watch them live, they remain available on that service for replay for several days or even weeks thereafter. (Replay has the advantage of letting you skip ahead from time to time to streamline your viewing experience.) 

Paris-Roubaix is often pronounced with Paris rhyming with “harry” — Parry-Roubaix. What makes the race “harry” and harass the riders is that significant portions of the route are on cobbled farm paths barely wide enough for two bikes side by side in some places — and on race days, they are hemmed in by spectators standing on both edges of the byway. While the cobbles are quarried rock, not field stones, they are far from smooth-set equally sized pavers, but rather irregular rough cuts in various states of upheaval and disarray. These form a surface that chews up bikes, dethrones and wounds riders and spits some of them out of competition. This year, the men’s race will contain 30 sections of cobblestone path totaling over 33 miles of agony. The women will have 18 miles of bone-rattling cobbles.

What’s more, because the narrow sectors force the riders to string out, the team cars carrying the mechanics, along with spare wheels and replacement bikes, are farther behind yet, so that if a rider has a puncture or other mechanical problem while on the cobbles, there’s no space for the cars to veer around the intervening riders and thus no quick fix, which can cause even the strongest participants to lose ground in the ongoing race.

The worst of cobbled sectors is the 1.5-mile path that runs through the forest of Arenberg. Its cobbles are vicious, full of holes and dips. Even the crown of the path sees its share of half-dislodged pavers and deep dips caused by abandoned mines running underneath the road. The stones of Arenberg can be dirty, muddy and slick as ice when wet, and because the sector is in deep shade, moss grows on the stones, making them even more treacherous. It’s been said that the Arenberg does not pick Roubaix’s victor, but it does break the peloton down to a group from which the winner will emerge.

There are three other events on the pro-cycling calendar that include some cobble sectors, but Paris Roubaix is considered the most treacherous of the four, and it becomes even more so if it rains on race day, a scenario not uncommon during the French springtime. Even on dry days, the riders end up covered with dust and farm muck, but if it rains, they emerge looking like mud wrestlers who lost their bouts (see, for example, photos of the 2021 race). 

Paris-Roubaix is not a race for the faint of heart, and for good reason, it’s known as the “Hell of the North.”

What makes the men’s race especially interesting this year is that Tadej Pogacar, the 26-year-old Slovenian who is currently the best bike racer in the world (see his palmarès here), has declared his intention to ride in this year’s Paris-Roubaix. Since Pogacar is the odds-on favorite to win the Tour de France — pro-cycling’s most-prestigious race — this coming July, he’s literally putting that outcome in danger, where a crash on the cobbles could sideline him for months. But Pogacar has won the Tour three times, and he wants to add Paris-Roubaix to his stunning list of accomplishments before winning the Tour again this year.

But it takes more than power and speed to win Paris-Roubaix, and Pogacar already received one pass from lady luck in the Strade Bianche race in early March when he slid out on a curve and cartwheeled into some bushes. He got up, with his jersey and shorts torn, and his body skinned, but remounted and still managed to overtake the leaders and win the race.

So Pogacar’s participation in the Roubaix race will have fans everywhere, including me, watching with interest.

There are cash prizes, of course, for the winners of the men’s and women’s Paris-Roubaix, but instead of a trophy, they receive a cobblestone on a polished stone plinth.

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Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.