NOT TO MISS

PARIS- ROUBAIX FEMMES 2 October | France | 1.WWT

It is here. It’s finally here. After a year of waiting, the world’s best female cyclists will finally be able to race over the pavé of northern France, as long as there isn’t another catastrophic covid outbreak of course. The race was originally due to be run in October last year, and then April this year. Finally, it’s running now, and it’s safe to say the women’s peloton are rather impatient to ride such an iconic race, so expect fireworks on the pavé and in the Roubaix velodrome.

The women will tackle 116km across Northern France including 29.2km of cobbles, which are split into 17 different sectors. They will tackle the five-star sectors of Mons-en-Pévèle and the Carrefour de l’Arbre in the race, ensuring maximum chaos.

With such little evidence to base any predictions on, it will be fascinating to see who goes well in such a unique race. Seeing as none of them have ever ridden it before, expect the serial winners Marianne Vos, Annemiek van Vleuten and Anna van der Breggen to be incredibly competitive, as always.