News: Taste of Le Tour in Paris-Roubaix

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In this years Paris-Roubaix will be nine sections totalling 15.4 km of cobbles that will be on the par cours of the Tour de France next July

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With 257 kilometres to be covered in total, the 112th edition of Paris-Roubaix will include 28 cobbled sections, or in other words, 51.1 km of the ‘shakes’. On the race route, 9 sections totalling 15.4 km of cobbles will also be on the programme of the Tour de France next July.

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For many riders, the two coming months are perceived as a tunnel at the end of which the light is Compiègne, the venue for the start of Paris-Roubaix, the main goal of all the cobble addicts in the professional pack. Each detail can turn out to be precious in preparation for this unique event, starting with in-depth knowledge of the route, which this year has undergone several modifications.

The sequence of the first difficulties has been revamped, in order to visit some cobbled sections that had been left “fallow” for several years. Whilst the first vibrations will be felt as usual after approximately one hundred kilometres near Troisvilles, almost twenty kilometres further on, the pack will deviate from last year’s route to reacquaint itself with the sections at Haussy (800 m) and Saulzoir (1,200 m), re-integrated into the route after an absence of 10 years. As for the 1,200-m section at Famars, it has only been absent for two years.

However, reconnoitring this year may also involve riders in cycling’s elite beyond the circle of specialists in the Flanders classics that take place as spring’s first flowers emerge. The perspective of the 5th stage on the Tour de France, which will take place on 9th July between Ypres and Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, will surely incite the favourites to make several journeys to the Nord Pas-de-Calais region… and why not test their mettle in the Queen of the Classics, since 9 sections on the programme of Le Tour will be visited by Paris-Roubaix.

Nevertheless, in July, the peloton will be making its return in the opposite direction, starting with the section at Gruson, where the riders on Paris-Roubaix will almost have the cycling stadium in sight. Only the section at Mons-en-Pévèle will be tackled in the same direction as on Le Tour, but only for a portion measuring 1,000 m in July.

The cobbled sections featured in both Paris-Roubaix and the 5th stage of Le Tour 2014
Ø Gruson – Carrefour de l’arbre (1,100 m)
Ø Ennevelin – Pont-Thibaut (1,400 m)
Ø Mons-en-Pévèle (3,000 m on PR / 1000 m on the TDF)
Ø Bersée (2,600 m on PR / 1,400m on the TDF)
Ø Orchies – Beuvry (1,400 m)
Ø Sars-et-Rosières – Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes (2,400 m)
Ø Brillon – Warlaing (2,400 m on PR / 1,400 m on the TDF)
Ø Wandignies-Hamage – Hornaing (3,700 m)
Ø Hélesmes – Wallers (1,600 m)

 

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