The organiser ASO described it as too dangerous, as the section, which is over two kilometres long and has a maximum difficulty rating of five stars, is not far enough away from the start.
Paris-Roubaix organiser speaks out
"It's too dangerous when a closed peloton gets there," said Franck Perque from the ASO. "If we want to go that way in the future, we'll have to put some other cobbled sectors in front of it to divide the field."
The third edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes takes place on Saturday. The start will be in Denain, just ten kilometres from the Arenberg forest. In the men's race on Sunday, it is well over 100 kilometres from the start in Compiegne to this section. The Arenberg sector is so dangerous because the first 500 metres are downhill, the cobbles are very bad and the men reach speeds of 60 km/h at the start.
17 cobblestone sectors for the women
The women's race has been extended from 125 to 145 kilometres this year. Over a total of 17 sectors, 29.2 kilometres of cobblestones have to be tackled, including the Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l'Arbre, which also have a five-star rating. For the men, there are 29 sectors with 54.5 kilometres of cobblestones over 257 kilometres.
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