The cobbles – or pavé if you’re that way inclined – are the lumpy perineum-pummelling heart and soul of Paris-Roubaix. But how bad are they and how long is each stretch? Here are some photos and Strava data to give you a feel for things ahead of Sunday’s Hell of the North.
This year’s Paris-Roubaix features 55km of cobbled roads because apparently last year’s 52.8km simply wasn’t enough.
There are 29 sectors in all, ranging from the short benign stretch in Roubaix itself to the three five-star rated sections of Trouée d’Arenberg, Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l’Arbre.
This year those three sectors will also have a black gantry over the start to remind the riders just how horrifying they are. Yellow, blue, orange and red gantries will denote two, three and four-star sectors respectively.
The ten stretches below – a selection of the four and five star (red and black) sectors – should give you a flavour of the joys in store for the riders this coming weekend.
Trouée d’Arenberg
KOM: Jon Mould (3:00)
Speed: 45.1km/h
QOM: Louise De Waal (4:19)
Speed: 31.3km/h
Mons-en-Pévèle
KOM: Niki Terpstra (4:31)
Speed: 39.7km/h
QOM: Andrea Rodriguez (6:04)
Speed: 29.6km/h
Carrefour de l’Arbre
KOM: Taylor Phinney (3:18)
Speed: 37.0km/h
QOM: ANNE SOPHIE MARTIN (4:42)
Speed: 26.0km/h
Quiévy – Saint-Python
KOM: Stijn Steels (5:38) / Pro (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
Speed: 39.6km/h
QOM: Alie Mulder-schilder (7:35)
Speed: 29.4km/h
Haveluy – Wallers
KOM: R W (3:28) / Pro (Lotto–Soudal)
Speed: 43.6km/h
QOM: Christina Marchand
Speed: 30.7km/h
Hornaing – Wandignies-Hamage
KOM: Maarten Tjallingii/Maarten Wynants (5:15)
Speed: 42.5km/h
QOM: Lizca Crazy Canuck (6:04)
Speed: 36.8km/h
Auchy-lez-Orchies – Bersée
KOM: Oliver Naesen (4:02)
Speed: 39.8km/h
QOM: Andrea Rodriguez (5:40)
Speed: 28.4km/h
Cysoing – Bourghelles (1st part)
KOM: Marcus Burghardt (1:19)
Speed: 43.5km/h
QOM: Gwenno Hughes (1:46)
Speed: 32.4km/h
Cysoing – Bourghelles (2nd part)
KOM: Etienne Fabre (0:59)
Speed: 43.8km/h
QOM: Gwenno Hughes (1:21)
Speed: 31.9km/h
Camphin-en-Pévèle
KOM: Paolo Albonetti (2:20)
Speed: 46.5km/h
QOM: Gwenno Hughes (3:48)
Speed: 28.5km/h
2 thoughts on “Paris-Roubaix 2017 – photos and Strava data for ten of the toughest stretches of pavé”
Never seen a flat segment
Never seen a flat segment before, particularly one over a mile long with over 8k attempts, where the KOM is over 40% faster than the QOM. Really sheds light on the fact that there’s no pro women’s road race.
It also sheds light on the fact that even the best pros on their best days can’t muster up 40kph on those stretches. Absolutely brutal.
What amazes me is that,
What amazes me is that, according to the records, Emile Bouhors, who won the race in 1900 averaged over 37kph. That would have been on a single speed bike, possibly fixed!