There’s a trend for endurance events at the moment.
Established challenges such as marathons and triathlons are complemented by a
new wave of quasi-military assault courses, with millions of plucky
participants signing up to events with names like Spartan Race, Tough Mudder and
the unfortunately-departed BattleFrog.
While a combination of corporate team discounts, and the
opportunity to clamber over and under obstacles while shouting encouragement in
clipped tones to your colleagues was always likely to find an audience among
Britain’s Russell Group-educated elite, these rigorous races do at least
provide a positive impetus to train towards a fixed goal.
However challenging these weekend events must be, however,
and despite their uniformly macho branding, I’ve yet to see one labelled as ‘A
Sunday in Hell’.
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| Paris-Roubaix: a unique challenge |
That title belongs to the Paris-Roubaix, a one-day cycling
race in northern France which takes place every April. This Sunday sees the 117th
edition, with a field of 200 riders from 25 teams undertaking a 257km course, finishing in a sprint around Roubaix’s
concrete velodrome.
The course itself is generally very flat, lacking even the short-but-steep
inclines common in other spring classics such as the Tour of Flanders, but the
cobbles, or pavé, that cover 53km of the course make Paris-Roubaix a notoriously difficult
ride. British cyclist Roger Hammond once described the experience of riding the
pavé as “bone-shattering chaos”, and cyclists as decorated as Fabian Cancellara
and George Hincapie have been humbled by the cobbled roads in the past.
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| Man down: muddy cobbles get the better of Cancellara in 2016 |
The pavé are particularly hazardous in the wet weather that typically
prevails near the Belgian border in spring, as mud on the primitive roads
reduces traction even further. This year’s forecast is for sun before and
during the race, but in the drier years the peloton has to contend with plumes
of dust rising up from the cobblestones, prompting French writer Louis Nucera
to compare the 1980 edition of the race to a desert crossing.
Such a troublesome riding surface has turned the humble pavé
into an icon of the race, with the winner receiving a mounted cobblestone as
their trophy. Belgian rider Tom Boonen already has a personal collection of
four of the stones, and Sunday marks the 36-year-old’s final chance to overtake
compatriot Roger de Vlaeminck as Paris-Roubaix’s most successful rider.
While retirement beckons for Boonen, the next generation of
cycling superstars will be looking to spoil his farewell race. The reigning
world champion, Slovak sprinter Peter Sagan, is the bookies’ favourite to add a
first Paris-Roubaix victory to his crowded collection of palmeres but may still
be recovering from a mild crash in last weekend’s Tour of Flanders. 2016 winner Mathew Hayman, while a hardy competitor, may at 38
years old lack the raw pace needed to lead from the front again, particularly
on a dry course.
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| Greg van Avermaet has started 2017 in fantastic form |
Perhaps the best bet would be to back BMC's Belgian rider Greg van
Avermaet to collect his first cobblestone on Sunday. The 31-year-old claimed a
bronze medal in the 2015 Paris-Roubaix and comes into this year’s race in
sparkling form, having won the Gent-Wevelgem and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad one-day
events already this season, beating Sagan on both occasions.
While van Avermaet should be confident ahead of the race, the
‘Hell of the North’ is always liable to spring a few surprises, with changeable
weather and jagged cobbles just some of the variables. No matter who prevails
in Roubaix’s velodrome on Sunday afternoon, they will certainly have earned
their victory.
