Major Change To Legendary Paris-Roubaix Route Has Cyclists And Fans Angry

The Tour de France gets all the buzz, but there is no one-day cycling race in the world that is quite as famous as the legendary Paris-Roubaix.

The 161-mile race, nicknamed the “Hell of the North,” takes riders across the French countryside over more than 20 sectors of the worst and most difficult-to-ride cobbled roads you can imagine.

But this year’s race will have a major difference from the 120 that came before it, and the change has both riders and fans fired up.

Paris-Roubaix Organizers Put Chicane Before The Trouée d’Arenberg

There is perhaps no site more synonymous than the legendary Trouée d’Arenberg. The 2400-meter cobbled section was laid in the time of Napoleon I through the Raismes Forest-Saint-Amand-Walle.

The first of three five-star (most difficult) segments runs through the ominous woods of Arenberg and over an abandoned mine. While it is too early in the race to decide the winner, its difficulty can ruin your chances of winning if things go wrong.

There are few better sights in all of sports than watching over 100 riders dash into the forest and onto the cobbles, often at speeds of over 40 miles per hour.

But the sector also proves dangerous. The transition from paved road to cobbles can be tough and the tightness of the bunch means that if one rider falls, those behind him often go down as well

That is why, at the request of some riders as well as union head Adam Hansen, the race introduced a turn just before the entrance of the forest.

But it did so in perhaps the worst possible way.

Instead of dashing head-on into the forest, riders will now have to brake over train tracks before taking a 90-degree right-hand turn around a metal gate, then a U-turn and another 90-degree right-hand turn into the forest.

Not only does the new turn ruin the sight of riders flying into Arenberg, it also introduces a whole new set of dangerous circumstances.

Braking over railroad tracks could cause punctures. And with riders now racing to be the first into the turn in order to improve positioning into the forest, they’ll be approaching the metal barrier and full speed and straight on.

Mathieu Van Der Poel, the reigning world champion and race favorite, was not a fan of the change.

Neither was former American Vuelta a Espana winner Chris Horner.

Nor were fans.

“Riders reached, and we acted on their behalf. Now, with a slower entrance to Arenberg, riders won’t hit it with speed and momentum. It’s going to make this sector even harder than before,” Hansen said of the changes.

Rising American star Matteo Jorgenson also supported the new route.

But on the whole, the reactions to the changes were overwhelmingly negative. Now it’s just a matter of waiting to see how pan on during the race on Sunday.