The incredible Paris Roubaix Race
The cycling world like all other sports, has people coming in, for different reasons. Some are in it to keep themselves fit, some to fight boredom, and some for the thrill of the competitive side of it.
For the uninitiated, the sport is a mystery. It is not a sport that lends itself to the modern the day television-dominated media. It is not instantly gratifying for the audience and lacks glamorous names that turn it into a spectacle.
At the professional level, you would find most of the races in the velodromes, where the cyclists go around in circles with dizzying speed and still manage to stay sane. These are played out at the highest levels in World events and the Olympics.
Then, there are the road races and that is where many a real enthusiast believes the true nature of the sport reveals itself. These are endurance events of a different level and they attain a special allure given the man vs nature battle.
Some of the most famous and tough races are those that happen in the winding countryside, and imposing mountains, with inclement weather to boot in many cases. Iconic endurance events like The Tour De France, The Giro d’ Italia, and the Road World cycling championships attract the top professionals and are some of the most prestigious. As in any sport where humans battle the conditions more than the opponent, there are endurance events of unimaginable difficulty. The Cape Epic in South Africa, Mallorca 312 in Spain, and the Dragon Devil in the mid-Wales mountains are the Ultra cycling events.
Amongst all these, there is one race however that has a special charm about it. It has an interesting history and given the conditions it unfolds itself in, is often referred to as the Hell of the North, and known more officially as the Paris Rabioux race.
It is 250 kms of cycling, through the French countryside, starting near Paris and ending at the Roubaix, a sleepy town with a history. The race started in the 1890s. as an attempt by the Roubaix cycling folks to popularize a velodrome they built. While it would sound like any other race, this one was to become a beast of a race. The road to Roubaix passed through the remote, reticent, and sleepy villages that dotted the French countryside stretching north away north of Paris towards the Belgian border.
While this looked simple enough, it is when the organizers mapped the path that they found the real devil. Many of these winding paths were paved with cobblestones, a popular way in those days of laying roads in the wet, grimy rural hinterland. The organizers knew that these were a nightmare to the cyclists and in an insane pursuit to get their velodrome noticed they coaxed and cajoled some sponsors and the cycling world to agree to the race being held.
More than 120 years later, in the world of glistening roads, sturdy pavements, blinkers, and road signs, the ride to Rabioux is hellish as ever. Over its glorious history, the starting point has changed, From 1896 to 1966 it started from Paris, then it shifted to Chantilly. Since 1977 the race starts from Compiegne, 80 kilometers north of Paris. It always ends at the old-fashioned Velodrome at Roubaix
The Paris Roubaix race is held every year in April.
Spring is young in the French heartland. The romantics are headed for Paris to walk around cobbled streets ( you haven’t heard the last of these cobbles) lined with blossom blooms, while those with art in their mind watch the lilies, in a trance, at Giverny, as Monet did a few centuries ago. But for these professional cyclists, it is time to get real.
They saddle up to tackle a race, which in even the most optimistic endings would leave them caked in mud, shaken to the core, and barely alive. The spring in France is accompanied by unpredictable rainfall, while those in Paris are advised to carry an umbrella, those on the way to race to Roubaix are advised to pray.
Paris Roubaix is all about the dreaded cobblestones
The Paris Roubaix is all about cobblestones. In the early years, they were normal, but as asphalted roads came up, the cobbles stones grew a charm of their own. The race has over 50 kms of cobblestones, spread over 29 sections. The rough and tumble of these start to appear about 100 kms into the race. On an average of about 2 kms each, these are the stretches that pound the life out of the cycle and the cyclist.
Some of the sections have a history of their own. Among all the cobbled sections three are termed as the five-star ones, sections where the outcome of race is most often decided.
These are…..
Trouée d’Arenberg ( The trench of Arenberg)
The first one these famed ones come up in the forests of Arenberg. This 2.3 kms stretch was laid during the 18th century, the stones are laid out irregularly, making it a difficult stretch. Jean Stablinski, a great French rider of Polish descent, scouted and found this section to add to the race. Stablinski was a native of the land as he had spent his life in Arenberg, a mining town in the French region referred to as the Nord.
What makes Arenberg the roughest of the stages in this hell of a race is the wicked cobblestones that it lays out. They are rough, and uneven and almost seem to have been put there by just scattering them around. The cyclists get thrown around as they hit the section on a descent. More often than not, the end of the section causes mayhem in the race, wrecked cycles, broken bones, and near-death crashes are a part of the bloodied past of this section.
Mons-en-Pévèle
This monster of a section of the Paris Roubaix arrives with about 50 kms to go. For those who have survived the many sections including the Arenberg, Mons-en-Pévèle is as hideous, but with a different strain of wickedness about it. This three kilometers section is another stretch of cobblestones , as bad as the others before. This section however adds another challenge. The terrain is undulating and as the track goes through the it, the open spaces on both sides bring in winds to add to the mean nature of the ride. Rain, if around makes it slippery, leaving the cyclist a slip away from broken bones.
Carrefour de l’Arbre
If the Arenberg and the Mons-en-Pavele with their challenges separate the champions, the final assault that decides the Paris Roubaix happens at the L’Arbre. Spiky stones, haphazard and wicked as they lay waiting, lead the riders to the now-famous Carrefour de l’Arbre restaurant. More than its challenges, it is the fatigue and the grind of the race till Carrefour de l’Arbre that makes it important. With just 15 kms to go to the end, the ones who can dip into the last remaining pools of effort would break away and on towards the Rabioux Velodrome.
As the leading pack enters the velodrome, the crowd erupts, egging them on to the finish line. As the often mud-caked, wet, scarred, and drained bodies tip across the line they joyously add another chapter to the history of the “Queen of the classics” as it is sometimes fondly referred to.
To the bodies that have taken the pounding of the cobblestones, and long given up wondering what the soul in them is up to, it still is the Hell of the North.
To a neutral it is, as is often, a case of being unable to decide if these cyclists are brave or just plain foolhardy.….. but then who cares…..
The Paris Roubaix is a classic, as classic as they come. A long history, a story of sweat and blood and a lot of drama. A chronicle of men and women who battled the ‘pave’ as the stones are called by locals.
The Queen of the Classics lives on…. arguably the toughest one-day race in the world.
