Paris-Roubaix 2024: TOUR takes a look behind the scenes - Highlights in the blog
Thomas Goldmann
· 08.04.2024
Paris-Roubaix 2024: The TOUR blog on the "Queen of the Classics"
Already the Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo The middle of March delivered spectacular images and stories. Now the third cycling monument of the year awaited: Paris-Roubaix 2024, for which we put together a special package. Sebastian Lindner spent the whole weekend travelling in and around Roubaix for TOUR, capturing impressions and voices to keep you up to date first-hand in our live blog.
Paris-Roubaix 2024: highlight of the race calendar
We also reported extensively on the women's race on Saturday and of course the men's race on Sunday in live ticker format here on the blog. The race for victory on the toughest cobbled roads in cycling attracts millions of spectators every year. Paris-Roubaix 2024 was once again one of the highlights of the cycling calendar. It is not for nothing that the race is nicknamed the "Queen of the Classics".
A total of 55.7 kilometres had to be ridden over pavé in the men's race at Paris-Roubaix 2024. That's more cobblestones than in the last 30 years. The 55.7 kilometres were divided into 29 sectors. The organiser A.S.O. awarded them stars depending on the level of difficulty. For the men, Paris-Roubaix 2024 had three sections with five stars, the highest level of difficulty: the Forest of Arenberg, Mons-en-Pevele and the Carrefour de l'Arbre. How hard it is to ride Paris-Roubaix, Marcus Burghardt's performance data from 2012, which we have analysed in detail, show that.
Mathieu van der Poel top favourite, Wout van Aert missing
The Arenberg forest in particular was the subject of discussion in the run-up to Paris-Roubaix 2024. A chicane shortly before entering the sector was intended to calm the race and increase the safety of the riders. In the race, everything went off without a hitch - although Mathieu van der Poel questioned the sense of this measure.
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After winning the Tour of Flanders, the Dutch superstar completed the double at Paris-Roubaix 2024. We followed the Paris-Roubaix live ticker here. The reigning cyclo-cross and road world champion was the defending champion at the start. In 2023, van der Poel made a preliminary decision in the Carrefour de l'Arbre. Wout van Aert had a flat tyre just as his rival was attacking and lost all chances of victory. The Belgian was not at the start this year. Van Aert suffered several broken bones in a serious crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen and is out for the time being.
Nils Politt & John Degenkolb at Paris-Roubaix 2024
From a German perspective, all eyes were on the Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates). The rider from Cologne finished third in the Tour of Flanders and had already emphasised in the TOUR interview that Paris-Roubaix will also be his big goal in the spring classics in 2024. "Second place at Paris-Roubaix still annoys me," said Nils Politt in a TOUR interview about his podium finish in 2019.
Alongside Politt, John Degenkolb (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) also has a score to settle with Paris-Roubaix. The 2015 winner was in a promising position in 2023 before a crash ruined his chances of victory. "More would have been possible that day" said Degenkolb in the TOUR interview.
Paris-Roubaix 2024 Women: The race in the live ticker
The women already contested their race on Saturday: Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift. TOUR reported on this in detail in the live ticker. The race covered a total of 148.5 kilometres and 17 cobblestone sectors with a total of 29.2 kilometres of pavé. Although the women did not ride through the forest of Arenberg, they contested the five-star sectors Mons-en-Pevele and the Carrefour de l'Arbre.
In the previous year Alison Jackson celebrated a surprising breakaway coup in the women's Paris-RoubaixAs in the women's Tour of Flanders in 2024, all eyes will be on the duel between the SD Worx - Protime and Lidl-Trek teams.
