Paris-roubaix

Sat-sun April 6-7 France

Major illness and injury issues across Visma-lease a Bike’s men’s team put in doubt the big showdown between Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel that most fans expected at this year’s Paris-roubaix on Sunday.

Van Aert became the most high profile victim in last Wednesday’s Dwars Door Vlaanderen, abandoning the race after coming down heavily in a big crash that was seemingly caused by a gust of wind. Multiple fractures including collarbone and ribs have ruled the Belgian out of this year’s ‘Hell of the North’.

Classics stalwart Jan Tratnik crashed out in the same race, while Christophe Laporte and Dylan van Baarle have also suffered illness and were ruled out ahead of last weekend’s Tour of Flanders.

All of this could mean that on-song

Dane Mads Pedersen steps in to fill the breach opened by Visma’s woes, joining van der Poel in what would surely be the favoured pair in the men’s event.

The women’s field has fortunately been less afflicted, with – at the time of writing

– favourites such as Lotte Kopecky (SD Worxprotime), her team-mate Demi Vollering, and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidltrek), all fit and on form.

There are no dramatic course changes to either men’s or women’s races this year, which begin in Compiègne and Denain respectively and finish, of course, in the iconic

Roubaix velodrome.

Both men’s and women’s races are 3km longer than last year, with the men riding more pavé than they have done in the past 30 years, thanks to a pair of returning sectors that have been inserted early on in the race at Briastre (sector 26) and Le Hameau de Buat (sector 24). The total number of cobbled sectors stays at 29, covering 55.7km.

The women’s race, while also gaining 3km to take it up to 148.5km, doesn’t gain any new (or returning) cobbles among its 17 sectors. Instead the course has been routed around a section deemed high-risk by organiser ASO.