Easter mystery

Vienne and Perez scheduled their race for Easter Sunday. The Roman Catholic Church objected to it being held on the most sacred day of the liturgical year, suggesting that riders would not have time to attend mass and that spectators might not bother to attend either.^{[n 2]} Tracts were distributed in Roubaix decrying the venture.

What happened next is uncertain. Legend says that Vienne and Perez promised a mass would be said for the riders in a chapel 200m from the start, in the boulevard Maillot. This story is repeated by Pascal Sergent, the historian of the race, and by Pierre Chany, historian of the sport in general.^[13] Sergent goes as far as saying that Victor Breyer, who he says was there, said the service, scheduled for 4 am, was cancelled because it was too early.^[14] Neither Chany nor Sergent mentions if the date of the race was subsequently changed; however, the first Paris–Roubaix (according to Sergent) was held on 19 April 1896, whereas Easter Sunday in 1896 occurred two weeks earlier, on 5 April.^[15]

The first Paris–Roubaix on Easter Sunday was the next year, 1897.

The first race

Josef Fischer won the first edition of Paris–Roubaix.

News of Breyer's ride to Roubaix may have spread. Half those who entered did not turn up at the Brassérie de l'Espérance, the race headquarters at the start. Those who dropped out before the race began included Henri Desgrange, a prominent track rider who went on to organize the Tour de France. The starters did include Maurice Garin, who went on to win Desgrange's first Tour and was the local hope in Roubaix because he and two brothers had opened a cycle shop in the boulevard de Paris the previous year.^[16]

Garin came third, 15 minutes behind Josef Fischer, the only German to have won the race until 2015.^[17] Only four finished within an hour of the winner. Garin would have come second had he not been knocked over by a crash between two tandems, one of them ridden by his pacers. Garin "finished exhausted and Dr Butrille was obliged to attend the man who had been run over by two machines", said Sergent.^[18]

The second race

Garin won the following year, beating Dutchman Mathieu Cordang in the last two kilometres of the velodrome at Roubaix.^{[n 3]} Sergent said:

As the two champions appeared they were greeted by a frenzy of excitement and everyone was on their feet to acclaim the two heroes. It was difficult to recognise them. Garin was first, followed by the mud-soaked figure of Cordang. Suddenly, to the stupefaction of everyone, Cordang slipped and fell on the velodrome's cement surface. Garin could not believe his luck. By the time Cordang was back on his bike, he had lost 100 metres. There remained six laps to cover. Two miserable kilometres in which to catch Garin. The crowd held its breath as they watched the incredible pursuit match. The bell rang out. One lap, there remained one lap. 333 metres for Garin, who had a lead of 30 metres on the Batave.

A classic victory was within his grasp but he could almost feel his adversary's breath on his neck. Somehow Garin held on to his lead of two metres, two little metres for a legendary victory. The stands exploded and the ovation united the two men. Garin exulted under the cheers of the crowd. Cordang cried bitter tears of disappointment.^[19]

Hell of the North

The race usually leaves riders caked in mud and grit, from the cobbled roads and rutted tracks of northern France's former coal-mining region. However, this is not how this race earned the name l'enfer du Nord, or Hell of the North. The term was used to describe the route of the race after World War I.^[20] Organisers and journalists set off from Paris in 1919 to see how much of the route had survived four years of shelling and trench warfare. Procycling reported:^[21]

They knew little of the permanent effects of the war. Nine million had died and France lost more than any. But, as elsewhere, news was scant. Who even knew if there was still a road to Roubaix? If Roubaix was still there? The car of organisers and journalists made its way along the route those first riders had gone. And at first all looked well. There was destruction and there was poverty and there was a strange shortage of men. But France had survived. But then, as they neared the north, the air began to reek of broken drains, raw sewage and the stench of rotting cattle. Trees which had begun to look forward to spring became instead blackened, ragged stumps, their twisted branches pushed to the sky like the crippled arms of a dying man. Everywhere was mud. Nobody knows who first described it as 'hell', but there was no better word. And that's how it appeared next day in the papers: that little party had seen 'the hell of the north.'^[21]

The words in L'Auto were:

We enter into the centre of the battlefield. There's not a tree, everything is flattened! Not a square metre that has not been hurled upside down. There's one shell hole after another. The only things that stand out in this churned earth are the crosses with their ribbons in blue, white and red. It is hell! '^[21]

This wasn't a race. It was a pilgrimage.

— Henri Pélissier, speaking of his 1919 victory.^[22]

History of the cobbles

Alain Bernard, President of 'Les Amis de Paris–Roubaix': "These days the mayors come to me with cobbles."

Seeking the challenge of racing on cobbles is relatively recent. It began at the same time in Paris–Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, when widespread improvements to roads after the second world war brought realisation that the character of both races were changing. Until then the race had been over cobbles not because they were bad but because that was how roads were made. André Mahé, who won in 1949 (see below Controversies), said:

After the war, of course, the roads were all bad. There were cobbles from the moment you left Paris, or Senlis where we started in those days. There'd be stretches of surfaced roads and often there'd be a cycle path or a pavement and sometimes a thin stretch of something smoother. But you never knew where was best to ride and you were for ever switching about. You could jump your bike up on to a pavement but that got harder the more tired you got. Then you'd get your front wheel up but not your back wheel. That happened to me. And then you'd go sprawling, of course, and you could bring other riders down. Or they'd fall off and bring you down with them. And the cycle paths were often just compressed cinders, which got soft in the rain and got churned up by so many riders using them and then you got stuck and you lost your balance. And come what may, you got covered in coal dust and other muck. No, it's all changed and you can't compare then and now.^[23]

The coming of live television prompted mayors along the route to surface their cobbled roads for fear the rest of France would see them as backward and not invested in the region. Albert Bouvet, the organiser, said: "If things don't change, we'll soon be calling it Paris–Valenciennes", reference to a flat race on good roads that often ends in a mass sprint. L'Équipe said: "The riders don't deserve that." Its editor, Jacques Goddet, called Paris–Roubaix "the last great madness of cycling."^[24] Bouvet and Jean-Claude Vallaeys formed Les Amis de Paris–Roubaix^[25] (see below). Its president, Alain Bernard, led enthusiasts to look for and sometimes maintain obscure cobbled paths. He said:

Until the war, Paris–Roubaix was all on routes nationales. But many of those were cobbled, which was the spirit of the race, and the riders used to try to ride the cycle paths, if there were any. So Paris–Roubaix has always been on pavé, because pavé was what the roads were made of. Then in 1967 things began to change. There was less pavé than there had been. And so from 1967 the course started moving to the east to use the cobbles that remained there. And then those cobbles began to disappear as well and we feared that Bouvet's predictions were going to come true. That's when we started going out looking for old tracks and abandoned roads that didn't show up on our maps. In the 1970s, the race only had to go through a village for the mayor to order the road to be surfaced. Pierre Mauroy, when he was mayor of Lille,^[26] said he wanted nothing to do with the race and that he'd do nothing to help it. A few years ago, there was barely a village or an area that wanted anything to do with us. If Paris–Roubaix came their way, they felt they were shamed because we were exposing their bad roads. They went out and surfaced them, did all they could to obstruct us. Now they can't get enough of us. I have mayors ringing me to say they've found another stretch of cobbles and would we like to use them.

— Alain Bernard, President of 'Les Amis de Paris–Roubaix', 2007.^[23]

The first section of pavé at the Carrefour de l'Arbre

Commemorative marker-post for the Pavé de Luchin at the Carrefour de l'Arbre

It was Alain Bernard who found one of the race's most significant cobbled stretches, the Carrefour de l'Arbre. He was out on a Sunday ride, turned off the main road to see what was there and found the last bad cobbles before the finish. It is a bleak area with just a bar by the crossroads. Bernard said:

"Until then, it [the bar ('Cafe de l'Arbre')] was open only one day a year. In France, a bar has to open one day a year to keep its licence. That's all it did, because it's out in the middle of nowhere and nobody went there to drink any more. With the fame that the race brought it, it's now open all year and a busy restaurant as well."

— Alain Bernard, President of 'Les Amis de Paris–Roubaix', 2007.^[23]

The Amis de Paris–Roubaix spend €10–15,000 a year on restoring and rebuilding cobbles. The Amis supply the sand and other material and the repairs are made as training by students from horticulture schools at Dunkirk, Lomme, Raismes and Douai. Each section costs €4–6,000, paid for equally by the Amis, the organisers and the local commune.^[27] Bernard said:

Alain Bernard, President of 'Les Amis de Paris–Roubaix', 2007.^[23]

— The trouble is that the Belgians then come out to see the race and they pull up a cobble stone each and take it home as a souvenir. They've even gone off with the milestones. It's a real headache. But I'm confident now that Paris–Roubaix is safe, that it will always be the race it has always been.

Strategic places of historic races

The strategic places where earlier races could be won or lost include Doullens Hill, Arras, Carvin and the Wattignies bend.^[28] Some sections of cobbles have deteriorated beyond the point of safety and repair or have been resurfaced and lost their significance. Other sections are excluded because the route of the race has moved east.

Pacers

Early races were run behind pacers, as were many competitions of the era.^[29] The first pacers were other cyclists, on bicycles or tandems. Cars and motorcycles were allowed to pace from 1898.^[30] The historian Fer Schroeders says:

In 1898, even cars and motorcycles were allowed to open the road for the competitors. In 1900, the race was within a hair's breadth of disappearing, with only 19 riders at the start. The following year, the organisation therefore decided to allow help only from pacers on bicycles. And in 1910, help from pacers were stopped for good. An option which lifted Paris–Roubaix out of the background and pushed it, in terms of interest, ahead of the prestigious Bordeaux–Paris.^{[n 4][30]}

The start

The race has started at numerous places:

The opening kilometres (the départ fictif) have often been a rolling procession. Racing has started further into the ride (départ réel). The start of open racing has been at:

Main cobbled sectors

The organisers grade the cobbles by length, irregularity, the general condition and their position in the race.^[33]

Troisvilles to Inchy

27 cobble sections of 2011

This sector is now usually the first cobbled section, typically about 100 km into the race, and was first used 1987. It is the highest of all the cobbles at 136 m.^[34][35]

Trouée d'Arenberg

Trouee d'Arenberg – 2008 Paris–Roubaix.

The Trouée d'Arenberg, Tranchée d'Arenberg, (Trench of Arenberg), Trouee de Wallers Arenberg, has become the symbol of Paris–Roubaix. Officially 'La Drève des Boules d'Herin', the 2400m of cobbles were laid in the time of Napoleon I through the Raismes Forest-Saint-Amand-Wallers, close to Wallers and Valenciennes.^[36] (50°23′56″N 3°24′45″E / 50.399°N 3.4125°E / 50.399; 3.4125) The road was proposed for Paris–Roubaix by former professional Jean Stablinski,^[37] who had worked in the mine under the woods of Arenberg.^[38] The mine closed in 1990 and the passage is now preserved. Although almost 100 km from Roubaix, the sector usually proves decisive and as Stablinski said,

Paris–Roubaix is not won in Arenberg, but from there the group with the winners is selected.^[39]

A memorial to Stablinski stands at one end of the road.^[40]

2013 Paris–Roubaix, Forest of Arenberg

Introduced in 1968, the passage was closed from 1974 to 1983 by the Office National des Fôrets. Until 1998 the entry to the Arenberg pavé was slightly downhill, leading to a sprint for best position. The route was reversed in 1999 to reduce the speed. This was as a result of Johan Museeuw's crash in 1998 as World Cup leader, which resulted in gangrene so severe that amputation of his leg was considered. In 2005 the Trouée d'Arenberg was left out, organisers saying conditions had deteriorated beyond safety limits as abandoned mines had caused sections to subside. The regional and local councils^{[n 5]} spent €250,000^[41] on adding 50 cm to restore the original width of three metres and the race continued using it.^[42] The Italian rider Filippo Pozzato said after trying the road after its repairs:

It's the true definition of hell. It's very dangerous, especially in the first kilometre when we enter it at more than 60kh. It's unbelievable. The bike goes in all directions. It will be a real spectacle but I don't know if it's really necessary to impose it on us.^[41]

In 2001 a French rider, Philippe Gaumont, broke his femur after falling at the start of the Trouée when leading the peloton.^[41] He said:

What I went through, only I will ever know. My knee cap completely turned to the right, a ball of blood forming on my leg and the bone that broke, without being able to move my body. And the pain, a pain that I wouldn't wish on anyone. The surgeon placed a big support [un gros matériel] in my leg, because the bone had moved so much. Breaking a femur is always serious in itself but an open break in an athlete of high level going flat out, that tears the muscles. At 180 beats [a minute of the heart], there was a colossal amount of blood being pumped, which meant my leg was full of blood. I'm just grateful that the artery was untouched.^[43]

Gaumont spent a month and a half in bed, unable to move, and was fitted with a 40 mm section fixed just above the knee and, to the head of the femur, with a 12 mm screw. So many fans have taken away cobbles as souvenirs that the Amis de Paris–Roubaix have had to replace them.^[34][35][44]

Tom Boonen followed by Fabian Cancellara in the 2008 Paris–Roubaix

Roubaix, Espace Charles Crupelandt

Jean Metzinger, 1912, At the Cycle-Race Track (Au Vélodrome), oil and sand on canvas, 130.4 x 97.1 cm, Peggy Guggenheim Collection. This painting illustrates the final meters of the Paris–Roubaix race, and portrays its 1912 winner Charles Crupelandt.

The final stretch of cobbles before the stadium is named after a local rider, Charles Crupelandt, who won in 1912 and 1914. The organiser of the Tour de France, Henri Desgrange, predicted he would win his race. Crupelandt then went to war and returned a hero, with the Croix de Guerre.

This 300 m sector was created for the centenary event in 1996 by laying a strip of smooth new cobbles down the centre of a wide street. Among the cobbles are plaques to every race winner, giving the road an official name of 'Chemin des Géants,' [Road of the Giants].^[34]

The finish

The last 750m are in the vélodrome in Roubaix

Shower cubicles at Roubaix track are named after winners

The finish until 1914 was on the original track at Croix, where the Parc clinic now stands. There were then various finish points:^[46]

• 1896–1914: Rue Verte/route d'Hempempont, Croix, Roubaix
• 1919: avenue de Jussieu, Roubaix, behind the dairy
• 1920–1921: Stadium Jean Dubrulle, Roubaix
• 1922–1928: avenue des Villas (now the avenue Gustave Delory), Roubaix
• 1929: Stade Amédée Prouvost, Wattrelos
• 1930–1934: avenue des Villas, Roubaix
• 1935–1936: Flandres horse track, Marcq
• 1937–1939: avenue Gustave Delory (former avenue des Villas), Roubaix
• 1943–1985: Roubaix Velodrome
• 1986–1988: avenue des Nations-Unies
• 1989–present (April 2022): Roubaix Velodrome

The race moved to the current stadium in 1943, and there it has stayed with the exceptions of 1986, 1987 and 1988 when the finish was in the avenue des Nations-Unies, outside the offices of La Redoute, the mail-order company which sponsored the race.^[47]

The shower room inside the velodrome is distinctive for the open, three-sided, low-walled concrete stalls, each with a brass plaque to commemorate a winner. These include Peter Van Petegem, Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck,^[48] Rik Van Looy and Fausto Coppi.^[49]

When I stand in the showers in Roubaix, I actually start the preparation for next year.

— Tom Boonen, 2004.^[50]

A commemorative plaque at 37 avenue Gustave Delory honours Émile Masson Jr., the last to win there.

1907 – The wrong gendarme

In 1907, Georges Passerieu broke away from a small leading group just before Douai because he knew he could not outsprint them if they all finished together. He was chased all the way to Roubaix by a Belgian, Cyrille van Hauwaert, and tension in the velodrome was high. The crowd heard that Passerieu had reached the stadium but nobody rode on to the track. The leader was just about to ride in when a gendarme stepped into his path to check if his bicycle had the obligatory tax plate attached to it. Passerieu had already had a hard day and a shouting match broke out before he was allowed to continue.

1930 – The wrong team

In 1930, Jean Maréchal finished 24 seconds ahead of Belgian Julien Vervaecke but was moved to second because, while Maréchal was trying to pass Vervaecke, the Belgian tumbled into a ditch. According to some, Maréchal hit the Belgian's shoulder, causing his fall. Jacques Augendre, historian of the Tour de France, said Maréchal, who was 20, "was riding as an individual for a little bike-maker, Colin, and he got to Roubaix alone. His happiness was short-lived. Arbitrarily accused of having provoked a fall by Julien Vervaecke, with whom he had broken away, he was disqualified without any sort of hearing. Important detail: Vervaecke belonged to the all-powerful Alcyon team, run by the no less powerful Ludovic Feuillet (fr: Ludovic Feuillet) ..."^[57]

1934 – The wrong bike

In 1934 Roger Lapébie was disqualified for changing bicycles. Second placed rider Gaston Rebry was awarded the victory once officials discovered that Lapébie's bike was missing a race sticker.^[58]

1936 – The wrong man

In 1936 the Belgian Romain Maes, appeared to win but judges declared Frenchman Georges Speicher the winner and Maes second.^[59] Shouting began in the stands and for a moment it looked as though fighting would start, but calm returned and the result was upheld. A Belgian may not have won but there were seven Belgians in the first ten.

1949 – The wrong route

André Mahé in 2007

The result in 1949 took several months and two international conferences to sort out. André Mahé was first but his win was challenged because he took the wrong course. Mahé was in a break of three that reached Roubaix velodrome in the lead, but he was misdirected by officials and entered the track by the wrong gate. Mahé was declared winner but a few minutes later other riders arrived using the correct route and Serse Coppi, brother of famous Fausto, won the sprint for what was assumed to be the minor placings. After a protest and several months, Serse Coppi was named joint winner with Mahé.^[60] Mahé said in 2007:

C'est trop bête d'en parler (It's too stupid to talk about). There was a break. Coppi attacked. His brother Fausto gave him a push to get him away. He wanted his brother to win. I waited a bit and then I attacked and I caught him and the break. Then I went off by myself. I was going to win Paris–Roubaix. At the entrance to the vélodrome, there were crowds everywhere, blocking the way. I looked around for where to go and I was directed round the outside wall of the track, to where the team cars had to park. It wasn't like nowadays, when there's television and everything. Then it was more chaotic and the whole road was blocked. People said I should have known the way into the track. But how do you know a thing like that at the end of Paris–Roubaix, when you've raced all day over roads like that? A gendarme signalled the way to go and that's the way I went.^[23]

It was a journalist on a motorbike who managed to get up to me. He was shouting 'Not that way! Not that way!' And I turned round in the road and I rode back beneath the outside wall of the grandstand and I saw a gateway that went into the track, a gateway for journalists. And that's the way I went, except that it came out on the other side of the track from the proper entrance. The bunch came in and Serse won the sprint. But then his brother told Serse to go to the judges to object. He told Serse that I hadn't ridden the entire and precise course and that therefore I should be déclassé. But that was below him. Coppi wanted his brother to have a big victory. He was a great champion, Coppi, but to do what he did, to protest like that to get a victory for his brother, that wasn't dignified for a champion. That was below him. A champion like that should never have stooped that low. I never spoke to him about it. Never did. Why should I?^[23]

1981 – The wrong race

In 1981 Bernard Hinault said after winning the race:

Paris–Roubaix est une connerie^[51] – "Paris–Roubaix is bullshit" or "Paris–Roubaix is plain stupid".^[61]

The only other times he rode it were in 1980, when he finished fourth, and in 1982, as the defending champion. When he was criticised, he said: "I don't go into offices and tell people to work harder, yet people ask me to be the strongest on the cobbles."^[43] Hinault fell seven times in that race, including 13 km from the finish when a small black dog called Gruson ran out in a bend and ran under his wheel. Hinault had been clear with Roger De Vlaeminck, Hennie Kuiper and Marc Demeyer. The incident made Hinault angry and he raced back to the others and won in Roubaix.

He was not the first star to refuse. Jacques Anquetil called it a lottery after puncturing 13 km from the end in 1958 and never took it seriously again.^[51]

In 2002 only two of the top 20 riders in the UCI table – Jens Voigt and Erik Zabel – were on the start line. The following year only Zabel was there. In 2004 he had stayed at home as well. Philippe Brunel wrote in L'Équipe:

We won't go as far as say that the five-time winner of the Tour [Hinault] – who every year gives the winner his celebration cobble stone on behalf of the organisers — has contributed to the impoverishment [paupérisation] of the queen of classics, which would offend him, but his words have contributed to the snub, or the indifference, of those who stay away. The fact isn't new but the phenomenon is getting worse and is concerning. The peloton of stayaways has grown to the point where Paris–Roubaix is now only for a tight group of specialists... especially the Belgians, capable of maintaining high speed on the cobbles.^[51]

1988 – The wrong place and time

The 1988 race contained a rare spectacle, for the first time in 30 years an early morning breakaway group held on until the finish: 27 kilometres into the race a group of unknown riders broke away and the pack did nothing to chase them down throughout the race. It was on a section of cobblestones outside Roubaix that Thomas Wegmüller (SUI) and Dirk Demol (BEL) broke away from the lead group to try for the victory. Wegmüller was ranked 175th in the world, Demol was a factory worker, ranked just inside the top 500 cyclists. As if the success of the breakaway wasn't enough, Paris–Roubaix was about to deliver a cruel irony.

When the two entered Roubaix, Wegmüller ran over a plastic bag that flew out in front of him, which became jammed in his derailleur. Wegmüller was unable to change gears which was crucial for a sprint finish. Demol could have attacked at this moment and won the race with ease, but it was clear he did not want to win in this manner and drafted behind Wegmüller as he got assistance from his team car to remove the bag. They removed most of the bag, but some of it was still jammed and his gears still would not change. Knowing that a bicycle change would be suicidal to his chances, Wegmüller continued on his damaged bike; Demol continued to draft behind him. When it came down to the final sprint, Wegmüller could only watch as Demol easily sprinted ahead to take the victory.

Laurent Fignon finished third after a late breakaway from the chasing peloton. Sean Kelly, also part of the chase group containing the top riders in the world, crashed late in the race, after it was already decided the breakaway would not be caught and crossed the finish line with blood covering his face.

2006 – The wrong train

In 2006 Leif Hoste, Peter Van Petegem and Vladimir Gusev were disqualified for riding through a closed railway level crossing 10 km before the finish and just ahead of an approaching freight train.^[22] Fabian Cancellara won and Tom Boonen and Alessandro Ballan were given the remaining places on the podium.

I know the rules, yes, but I don't understand why nobody stopped us, and why nothing was said to us in the 10 km that followed. All that just to be told two minutes before going to the podium that we had been disqualified. Cancellara deserved his victory but for me, I will always be in second place even though I have been disqualified.

— Leif Hoste, L'Équipe, April 2006.^[22]

"It's crazy. In Belgium they would have stopped the train."

— Peter Van Petegem, April 2006^[22]

Theo de Rooij

The American television channel CBS covered Paris–Roubaix in the 1980s. Theo de Rooij, a Dutchman, had been in a promising position to win the 1985 race but had then crashed, losing his chance of winning. Covered in mud, he offered his thoughts on the race to CBS' John Tesh after the race:

"It's a bollocks, this race!" said de Rooij. "You're working like an animal, you don't have time to piss, you wet your pants. You're riding in mud like this, you're slipping ... it's a pile of shit".

When then asked if he would start the race again, de Rooij replied:

"Sure, it's the most beautiful race in the world!"^[62]

Other observations

• "A Paris–Roubaix without rain is not a true Paris–Roubaix. Throw in a little snow as well, it's not serious." – Sean Kelly^[63]
• "Paris–Roubaix is a horrible race to ride but the most beautiful one to win." – Sean Kelly^[64]
• "Let me tell you, though — there's a huge difference between the Tour of Flanders and Paris–Roubaix. They're not even close to the same. In one, the cobbles are used every day by the cars, and kept up, and stuff like that. The other one — it's completely different ... The best I could do would be to describe it like this — they plowed a dirt road, flew over it with a helicopter, and then just dropped a bunch of rocks out of the helicopter! That's Paris–Roubaix. It's that bad — it's ridiculous." – Chris Horner^[65]

• "This is a race that suits me when I'm having a good day. On the other hand, if you don't have the legs, this is the worst place you could possibly be." – Jo Planckaert, 2004^[66]
• "It's a circus, and I don't want to be one of the clowns." – Chris Boardman (speaking before the start on British Eurosport).^[67]
• "Everybody has his own story during the race. When I get back to the bus I will hear the stories of my teammates and some stories come together and I start to understand what happened. It's the beauty of the race." – Wout van Aert, 2022^[68]

Les forçats du pavé

The weather is often bad for the riders; it is frequently worse for the forçats du pavé (literally 'convicts of the cobbles'), as they call themselves^{[n 8]} In March 2008, "Les Amis" published an account of their work thus:^[71]

Saturday 22 March: a cold wind sweeps the plain of Pévèle; alternating showers of hail, melted snow and cold rain. Not a day to venture outside... Nevertheless, at the foot of the Mons-en-Pévèle ridge, silhouettes busy themselves along the soaked cobble roadway. Backs bent against the gusts, they tirelessly scratch at the ground with primitive tools. Who are these dozen souls — A work-gang from a byegone era? Automatons? Treasure-hunters?

No, these are members of the "Amis de Paris Roubaix", trying to clean off the mud and crusted earth left on the cobbles by farm work. They are on an important section of Paris–Roubaix and, without their intervention, the greatest of cycling classics, due to be held in only a few days, will not be able to come through... And without these cobbled routes, the Paris–Roubaix would disappear, depriving the whole world of one of sport's most intense and gripping events. This they know, and they'll be back again the two weekends before the race, far from the media and officials who will soon bustle here.

The passion that drives them is much stronger than the bad weather. It has nothing to do with the current storms in the cycling world. These discreet servants of the "Queen of the Classics" have only one ambition — to clean the stones so that when the day comes for the champion to be crowned they can hold their cobbled trophy high.

Winners by year

Year	Country	Rider	Team
1896	Germany	Josef Fischer	Diamant
1897	Italy	Maurice Garin	–
1898	Italy	Maurice Garin	–
1899	France	Albert Champion	–
1900	France	Émile Bouhours	–
1901	France	Lucien Lesna	–
1902	France	Lucien Lesna	–
1903	France	Hippolyte Aucouturier	Peugeot
1904	France	Hippolyte Aucouturier	Peugeot
1905	France	Louis Trousselier	Peugeot–Wolber
1906	France	Henri Cornet	–
1907	France	Georges Passerieu	Peugeot–Wolber
1908	Belgium	Cyrille van Hauwaert	Alcyon–Dunlop
1909	France	Octave Lapize	Biguet–Dunlop
1910	France	Octave Lapize	Alcyon–Dunlop
1911	France	Octave Lapize	La Française–Diamant
1912	France	Charles Crupelandt	La Française–Diamant
1913	Luxembourg	François Faber	Peugeot–Wolber
1914	France	Charles Crupelandt	La Française–Hutchinson
1915	No race due to World War I
1916	No race due to World War I
1917	No race due to World War I
1918	No race due to World War I
1919	France	Henri Pélissier	La Sportive
1920	Belgium	Paul Deman	La Sportive
1921	France	Henri Pélissier	La Sportive
1922	Belgium	Albert Dejonghe	La Française
1923	Switzerland	Heiri Suter	Gurtner–Hutchinson
1924	Belgium	Jules van Hevel	Wonder–Russell
1925	Belgium	Félix Sellier	Alcyon–Dunlop
1926	Belgium	Julien Delbecque	Alcyon–Dunlop
1927	Belgium	Georges Ronsse	Automoto
1928	France	André Leducq	Alcyon–Dunlop
1929	Belgium	Charles Meunier	La Française–Diamant–Dunlop
1930	Belgium	Julien Vervaecke	Alcyon–Dunlop
1931	Belgium	Gaston Rebry	Alcyon–Dunlop
1932	Belgium	Romain Gijssels	Dilecta–Wolber
1933	Belgium	Sylvère Maes	Alcyon–Dunlop
1934	Belgium	Gaston Rebry	Alcyon–Dunlop
1935	Belgium	Gaston Rebry	Alcyon–Dunlop
1936	France	Georges Speicher	Alcyon–Dunlop
1937	Italy	Jules Rossi	Alcyon–Dunlop
1938	Belgium	Lucien Storme	Mercier–Hutchinson
1939	Belgium	Émile Masson Jr.	Alcyon–Dunlop
1940	No race due to World War II
1941	No race due to World War II
1942	No race due to World War II
1943	Belgium	Marcel Kint	Mercier–Hutchinson
1944	Belgium	Maurice Desimpelaere	Alcyon–Dunlop
1945	France	Paul Maye	Alcyon–Dunlop
1946	Belgium	Georges Claes	Rochet–Dunlop
1947	Belgium	Georges Claes	Rochet–Dunlop
1948	Belgium	Rik Van Steenbergen	Mercier–Hutchinson
1949	France	André Mahé (victory shared with Serse Coppi)	Stella–Dunlop
1949	Italy	Serse Coppi (victory shared with André Mahé)	Bianchi–Ursus
1950	Italy	Fausto Coppi	Bianchi–Pirelli
1951	Italy	Antonio Bevilacqua	Benotto–Ursus
1952	Belgium	Rik Van Steenbergen	Mercier–Hutchinson
1953	Belgium	Germain Derycke	Alcyon–Dunlop
1954	Belgium	Raymond Impanis	Mercier–BP–Hutchinson
1955	France	Jean Forestier	Follis–Dunlop
1956	France	Louison Bobet	Mercier–BP–Hutchinson
1957	Belgium	Fred De Bruyne	Carpano–Coppi
1958	Belgium	Leon Vandaele	Faema–Guerra
1959	Belgium	Noël Foré	Groene Leeuw–Sinalco–SAS
1960	Belgium	Pino Cerami	Peugeot–BP–Dunlop
1961	Belgium	Rik Van Looy	Faema
1962	Belgium	Rik Van Looy	Flandria–Faema–Clément
1963	Belgium	Emile Daems	Peugeot–BP–Englebert
1964	Netherlands	Peter Post	Flandria–Romeo
1965	Belgium	Rik Van Looy	Solo–Superia
1966	Italy	Felice Gimondi	Salvarani
1967	Netherlands	Jan Janssen	Pelforth–Sauvage–Lejeune
1968	Belgium	Eddy Merckx	Faema
1969	Belgium	Walter Godefroot	Flandria–De Clerck–Krüger
1970	Belgium	Eddy Merckx	Faemino–Faema
1971	Belgium	Roger Rosiers	Bic
1972	Belgium	Roger De Vlaeminck	Dreher
1973	Belgium	Eddy Merckx	Molteni
1974	Belgium	Roger De Vlaeminck	Brooklyn
1975	Belgium	Roger De Vlaeminck	Brooklyn
1976	Belgium	Marc Demeyer	Flandria–Velda–West Vlaams Vleesbedrijf
1977	Belgium	Roger De Vlaeminck	Brooklyn
1978	Italy	Francesco Moser	Sanson–Campagnolo
1979	Italy	Francesco Moser	Sanson–Luxor TV–Campagnolo
1980	Italy	Francesco Moser	Sanson–Campagnolo
1981	France	Bernard Hinault	Renault–Elf–Gitane
1982	Netherlands	Jan Raas	TI–Raleigh–Campagnolo
1983	Netherlands	Hennie Kuiper	J. Aernoudt–Rossin
1984	Ireland	Sean Kelly	Skil–Reydel–Sem–Mavic
1985	France	Marc Madiot	Renault–Elf
1986	Ireland	Sean Kelly	Kas
1987	Belgium	Eric Vanderaerden	Panasonic–Isostar
1988	Belgium	Dirk Demol	AD Renting–Mini-Flat–Enerday
1989	Belgium	Jean-Marie Wampers	Panasonic–Isostar–Colnago–Agu
1990	Belgium	Eddy Planckaert	Panasonic–Sportlife
1991	France	Marc Madiot	RMO
1992	France	Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle	Z
1993	France	Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle	GAN
1994	Moldova	Andrei Tchmil	Lotto
1995	Italy	Franco Ballerini	Mapei–GB–Latexco
1996	Belgium	Johan Museeuw	Mapei–GB
1997	France	Frédéric Guesdon	Française des Jeux
1998	Italy	Franco Ballerini	Mapei–Bricobi
1999	Italy	Andrea Tafi	Mapei–Quick-Step
2000	Belgium	Johan Museeuw	Mapei–Quick-Step
2001	Netherlands	Servais Knaven	Domo–Farm Frites–Latexco
2002	Belgium	Johan Museeuw	Domo–Farm Frites
2003	Belgium	Peter Van Petegem	Lotto–Domo
2004	Sweden	Magnus Bäckstedt	Alessio–Bianchi
2005	Belgium	Tom Boonen	Quick-Step–Innergetic
2006	Switzerland	Fabian Cancellara	Team CSC
2007	Australia	Stuart O'Grady	Team CSC
2008	Belgium	Tom Boonen	Quick-Step
2009	Belgium	Tom Boonen	Quick-Step
2010	Switzerland	Fabian Cancellara	Team Saxo Bank
2011	Belgium	Johan Vansummeren	Garmin–Cervélo
2012	Belgium	Tom Boonen	Omega Pharma–Quick-Step
2013	Switzerland	Fabian Cancellara	RadioShack–Leopard
2014	Netherlands	Niki Terpstra	Omega Pharma–Quick-Step
2015	Germany	John Degenkolb	Team Giant–Alpecin
2016	Australia	Mathew Hayman	Orica–GreenEDGE
2017	Belgium	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team
2018	Slovakia	Peter Sagan	Bora–Hansgrohe
2019	Belgium	Philippe Gilbert	Deceuninck–Quick-Step
2020	No race due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Italy	Sonny Colbrelli	Team Bahrain Victorious
2022	Netherlands	Dylan van Baarle	Ineos Grenadiers
2023	Netherlands	Mathieu van der Poel	Alpecin–Deceuninck

Wins per country

Wins	Country
57	Belgium
28	France
14	Italy
8	Netherlands
4	Switzerland
2	Australia  Germany  Ireland
1	Luxembourg  Moldova  Slovakia  Sweden

Most individual victories

Fastest editions

Rider	Avg. speed	Year	Distance
Mathieu van der Poel (NED)	46.84 km/h (29.11 mph)	2023	256.6 km (159.4 mi)
Dylan van Baarle (NED)	45.79 km/h (28.45 mph)	2022	257.2 km (159.8 mi)
Greg Van Avermaet (BEL)	45.20 km/h (28.09 mph)	2017	257.0 km (159.7 mi)
Peter Post (NED)	45.13 km/h (28.04 mph)	1964	265.0 km (164.7 mi)
Fabian Cancellara (SUI)	44.19 km/h (27.46 mph)	2013	254.5 km (158.1 mi)
Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL)	43.99 km/h (27.33 mph)	1948	246 km (153 mi)
Mathew Hayman (AUS)	43.91 km/h (27.28 mph)	2016	257.5 km (160.0 mi)
Peter Sagan (SVK)	43.55 km/h (27.06 mph)	2018	257.0 km (159.7 mi)
Pino Cerami (BEL)	43.54 km/h (27.05 mph)	1960	262.5 km (163.1 mi)
Tom Boonen (BEL)	43.48 km/h (27.02 mph)	2012	257.5 km (160.0 mi)
John Degenkolb (GER)	43.48 km/h (27.02 mph)	2015	253.5 km (157.5 mi)
Tom Boonen (BEL)	43.41 km/h (26.97 mph)	2008	259.5 km (161.2 mi)

• The record held by Peter Post, was set on the pre-1968 course, which contained far fewer cobbles.^[72]

Other records

• Most races completed by a rider – 16, by Raymond Impanis (1947–1963), Servais Knaven (1995–2010), and Mathew Hayman (2000–2001, 2003, 2005–2006, 2008–2018).^[73][72] – 15, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle,
• Most races (completed and not completed) – 18, by Raymond Poulidor (1960–1977, best result: 5th in 1962)^[74]
• Oldest winner – Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle, 38 years and 8 months in 1993.^[75]
• Largest winning margin (postwar) – 5 minutes and 21 seconds, when Eddy Merckx beat Roger De Vlaeminck in 1970.^[76]
• Closest margin of victory – 1 cm (0.39 in), between Eddy Planckaert and Steve Bauer in 1990.^[10][72]
• Slowest victory – 12 hours and 15 minutes, in 1919 when Henri Pélissier won on roads devastated by World War I.^[72]
• Longest victorious break – 222 km (138 mi), by Dirk Demol in 1988.^[72]