The Cycling Podcast Big Race Explainer – No.3 Paris-Roubaix

Apr 05, 2016, 08:22 PM

April 6 | With its battered cobbled roads, Paris-Roubaix is a race that belongs to the past.

And yet it is arguably the most eagerly-awaited single-day race of the entire year. The weather forecast is monitored on an hour-by-hour basis as race day approaches because, of all the great Classics, the conditions have the greatest bearing on the character of the race.

A dry Paris-Roubaix with a tailwind is a very different challenge to a wet edition of the Hell of the North.

In this episode of The Cycling Podcast's Big Race Explainer we hear from Magnus Backstedt, Sean Kelly and Tom Boonen, who have seven Paris-Roubaix victories between them, about the unique difficulty of racing over the pavé.