News

When it was announced that in 2020 there would be the first Paris-Roubaix Femmes, the excitement among the fans was total. Then came COVID-19, and both the 2020 women's and men's events were canceled, and those of 2021 were postponed from April to October. Thus, the 118th edition of the men's Paris - Roubaix will be held 903 days after the last one, and the first edition of the women's race will finally take place.

Route

The women's event has a total of 117 kilometers, of which 29 pass through the famous cobbled sectors that characterize the race, since the last 85 kilometers are common with the men's event. Thus, in this first edition of the race, riders will have to overcome 17 sectors, among which the most difficult are Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l’Arbre.

For its part, the mileage of the men's race rises to 257 kilometers with 30 cobbled sectors that add up to a total of 55 kilometers of pavés, in what constitutes a very traditional route.

Favorites Paris - Roubaix Femmes

As it is a race without precedent editions, it is difficult to predict who can perform well on the toughly paved roads, although riders who usually do well on the Ronde Van Vlaanderen and other cobbled classics are the a priori favorites: Marianne Vos (1200), Annemiek Van Vleuten (1200), Lotte Kopecky (1000), Lisa Brennauer (1200), Amy Pieters (1000), Elisa Balsamo (800) or Ellen Van Dijk (600) are perhaps the biggest favorites, although the startlist includes almost all the stars of the women’s peloton: Elisa Longo Borghini (1000), Elizabeth Deignan (1000), Cecile Uttrup Ludwig (1000), Chantal Blaak (600), Emma Norsgaard (1000), Marta Bastianelli (800) or Marlen Reusser (600) can also dream of writing their name in the race history.

Favorites Paris - Roubaix

Deceuninck - Quick-Step brings all their cobbled classics specialists, with up to five contenders for victory: Florian Sénéchal (400), Davide Ballerini (600), Kasper Asgreen (600), Yves Lampaert (600) and Zdeněk Štybar (200). Their main rivals on paper are, once againg, Wout Van Aert (1200) and Mathieu Van Der Poel (1000), although both can pay the numerical inferiority of their teams in the decisive moments. Trek - Segafredo with the pair Jasper Stuyven (600) / Mads Pedersen (1000), Ineos - Grenadiers with Michal Kwiatkowski (600) / Dylan Van Baarle (400) and BORA - Hansgrohe with Peter Sagan (1000) / Nils Politt (400) are teams with two bullets, while other riders such as Giacomo Nizzolo (800), Matteo Trentin (800), Sonny Colbrelli (800), Stefan Küng (800) or the reigning champion Philippe Gilbert (200) are likely to find themselves alone in the final kilometers.