The top of the cobbled traditional is lastly upon us and the third version of Paris-Roubaix Femmes guarantees to stay as much as everybody’s expectations on April 8.
This yr’s race is longer than the 2 earlier editions at 145.4km, with the extra kilometres added onto the beginning in Denain. The route doesn’t embody the legendary Trouée d’Arenberg, but it surely does embody the identical 29.2km of pavé unfold throughout 17 cobblestone sectors.
Followers lining the route can watch the race alongside the five-star pair of Mons-en-Pévèle and the Carrefour de l’Arbre and on the end line on the Velodrome in Roubaix.
It will likely be powerful to beat the primary two editions gained by Lizzie Deignan and Elisa Longo Borghini, each from Trek-Segafredo, however with a race as unpredictable as Paris-Roubaix, we will all anticipate full-throttle racing from begin to end.
Cyclingnews highlights the largest speaking factors forward of the 2023 Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
Be taught extra concerning the Ladies’s WorldTour in Cyclingnews’ definitive information for 2023, and be part of Cyclingnews for stay protection of the 2023 Spring Classics. Additionally examine in after every race for our full stories, outcomes, galleries, information and options.
Can Kopecky do the Flanders-Roubaix double?
In an early-season interview with the media, Lotte Kopecky shied away from making huge statements about her Paris-Roubaix targets.
“I dream of profitable Paris-Roubaix, but it surely’s so laborious to focus on this race as a result of there’s a lot luck concerned. I do not dare to say ‘I wish to win Paris-Roubaix,” she stated in January.
Then she burst onto the scene this spring with a victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Nokere Koerse. After that, amongst different notable performances for the rider and her SD Worx crew, she went on to win her second consecutive Tour of Flanders final Sunday.
One will get the sensation that this was all a lead-up to her greatest goal of the Spring Classics at Paris-Roubaix Femmes. If she pulls off the victory within the Roubaix Velodrome, she’s going to develop into the primary girl in historical past to have gained the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix back-to-back.
All the pieces appears to be coming collectively for SD Worx as an entire this spring, too. Signing Lorena Wiebes was the largest switch of the yr and she or he has delivered three victories thus far, and can little doubt win many extra races. Wiebes – who aided Kopecky in her second Flanders win – has additionally performed a task in supporting the dominance of the crew which has gained eight of the Spring Classics.
Kopecky’s transition right into a wildcard position, in gentle of the crew’s choice to construct a dash crew round Wiebes, has labored out nicely for everybody at SD Worx. She is given the liberty in races to take dangers and to make use of her versatility as a sprinter, rouleur and highly effective climber as a part of the highly effective crew’s wider technique inside races.
The large query now’s whether or not race favorite Kopecky can as soon as once more capitalise on these strengths to win each the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in a single season? The chances had been by no means extra in her favour.
Nonetheless no Trouée d’Arenberg
The boys’s version of the Paris-Roubaix contains three five-star cobbled sectors – Trouée d’Arenberg, Mons-en-Pévèle and the Carrefour de l’Arbre – with the score decided by taking size, unevenness of the cobbles and general situation into consideration. There is just one of those three five-star pavé sectors lacking from the ladies’s race, the long-lasting Trouée d’Arenberg.
The large speak forward of the race from the organisers was that they’d introduced in a 40-strong herd of goats to clear the grass and weeds that coat the forest lane-way to scale back the chance of the lads’s peloton slipping through the race. There was no dialogue, nevertheless, of introducing the Trouée d’Arenberg to the ladies’s race, simply an acknowledgment of its absence.
“In distinction with their male counterparts, the riders of Paris–Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift won’t reap the rewards of the goats’ work,” organisers joked in a press assertion.
The absence of the Trouée d’Arenberg from the ladies’s race has been the topic of controversy, notably within the first version held in October 2021. At the moment, organisers stated the pavé sector was not included as a result of it was too near the beginning of the race in Denain and, subsequently, doubtlessly “too harmful” to deal with with the complete peloton.
“It wouldn’t have been possible to start out the race by going straight into this cobbled part. Within the males’s race, as an example, by the point they attain Arenberg, they may have accomplished 10 sections, and little teams can have shaped, so that enables the race to be stretched out a bit of. However within the ladies’s race, we will’t simply launch the entire of the ladies’s peloton onto the Trouée d’Arenberg as a primary cobbled part,” race director Franck Perque of Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) defined on the time.
Nevertheless, the Paris-Roubaix Femmes route as soon as once more begins in Denain, and the beginning of the race has been prolonged forward of the primary pavé sector – Hornaing to Wandignies – which means that the overall distance has elevated from 124.7km to 145.4km.
A few of the riders who competed within the first two editions of Paris-Roubaix Femmes stated they want to see organisers embody the Trouée d’Arenberg whereas others famous that the route was difficult sufficient at the moment, particularly because it was newly launched to the ladies’s calendar.
Now, with the race is in its third yr, the 20.7km extension of the size could have been simply the chance so as to add within the Trouée d’Arenberg, nevertheless, it’s one which has been missed for 2023 at the least.
Subsequent in line at Trek-Segafredo
Lizzie Deignan made historical past as the primary girl to win Paris-Roubaix in 2021 and her teammate Elisa Longo Borghini then went on to win the second version final yr, which raises two apparent questions. Can Trek-Segafredo win three in a row and who’s the subsequent in line?
Deignan won’t be competing at this version of Paris-Roubaix Femmes as she is at the moment on maternity go away and scheduled to return to racing at La Vuelta Femenina in Could.
Longo Borghini solely lately returned to racing after affected by signs of COVID-19, however seems to have made a full restoration ending eleventh at Dwars door Vlaanderen after which beautiful herself with a podium end at Tour of Flanders.
Racing on intuition noticed her win Paris-Roubaix final yr, ending solo within the Roubaix Velodrome with a 23-second margin over runner-up Lotte Kopecky whereas her teammate Lucinda Model took third.
Eyes are in all probability on Longo Borghini to win a second consecutive title, however Model can be exhibiting promising kind this spring, taking part in an necessary position within the finals at Dwars door Vlaanderen and Tour of Flanders.
Model is without doubt one of the most agile and highly effective riders within the peloton, and her skillset is ideal for a race like Paris-Roubaix. She has private ambitions to win the race, and she or he additionally believes her crew can win a 3rd consecutive title. Maybe she could possibly be the subsequent Trek-Segafredo rider to hoist the cobblestone trophy above her head whereas standing on the rostrum because the winner of Paris-Roubaix.
“The ambition is to attempt to win this race one time for myself, and anyway, the crew begins with the ambition to win the race once more, after all. It’s one thing that basically lives in our group. Everyone, additionally within the service course, works for us to have the most effective gear, to be tremendous ready,” Model stated.
“We all know the course, and we have now the boldness … I’m actually assured we will intention for the win once more. It gained’t be simple, it by no means is, there’s loads of different sturdy riders, but it surely’s nice to have the help of the crew.”
Berteau flying the French flag
“My life is centred round Paris-Roubaix,” stated Cofidis rider Victoire Berteau, who grew up near the Troisvilles, the primary pavé sector of the lads’s race.
Though she did not compete within the first version of the ladies’s race two years in the past on account of damage, she completed a promising seventeenth final yr and was the best-placed rider from France.
‘As a patriot, being the primary Frenchwoman at all times makes me comfortable,” Berteau stated.
Surrounded by family and friends who watched from the pavé and on the entrance of the Roubaix Velodrome, she stated of racing Paris-Rouabix in 2022, “It was the happiest second of my life!”
“There was a loopy crowd. I completed within the prime 20 within the best race on the planet, and my household was ready for me. Sure, it was a particular second.”
Berteau competed on the monitor over the winter, however she started her Spring Classics marketing campaign at Gent-Wevelgem. Though she did not end that race, she was 14th at Dwars door Vlaanderen after using into the day’s decisive breakaway.
Crossing the end line simply behind the primary subject at Tour of Flanders, Berteau stated that she is able to deal with her second Paris-Roubaix this Saturday. “All the pieces is a go for Roubaix.”
Berteau is aiming for a top-15 this yr but additionally is aware of that luck and bodily and psychological energy play necessary roles in a race the place the terrain is as difficult as Paris-Roubaix.
“It is not solely the bodily facet that counts in Roubaix. I believe it is 50-50 with the psychological facet. If you do not have the psychological energy, do not trouble! It is also the truth that it is my native race. This race has at all times been a dream of mine. And you’ll dream of all the things in Roubaix. You will not be the most effective bodily, however if you’re mentally superior to everybody else, nothing dangerous can occur to you,” she stated in an interview for the Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
Underneath the radar
Marianne Vos’ second-place chase on the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Femmes, as Deignan rode to a solo victory, was probably the most riveting performances in ladies’s biking.
The Jumbo-Visma rider then got here into final yr’s version because the overwhelming favorite however was sidelined on the morning of the race on account of a constructive COVID-19 check, which left her devastated.
It has been a turbulent yr thus far for Vos, who lately recovered from surgical procedure to right pelvic artery constriction, which sidelined her from defending her rainbow jersey on the Cyclocross World Championships.
She begins Paris-Roubaix, having accomplished solely three races this spring – Trofeo Alfredo Binda (twentieth), Dwars door Vlaanderen (third) and Tour of Flanders (fifteenth). She would usually be a favorite for a race like Paris-Roubaix, however she is coming into this yr’s version considerably below the radar.
Regardless of the day without work to get well from surgical procedure, Vos stated her preparation for Paris-Roubaix has been much like earlier editions and that she is wanting ahead to the racing, particularly after lacking out final yr.
Her ambition? “To attempt to do a superb race. I suppose you additionally want a bit of little bit of luck. However I believe with this sort of race, all you are able to do is attempt to keep in entrance, attempt to maintain the suitable place after which give your finest. I hope to be there and play a task within the finale.”
