Women celebrate four years of inclusion at Paris-Roubaix - is there room for growth?
The biggest one-day race in women's cycling is upon us, and it has already spawned several points of discussion
Paris-Roubaix: one of the oldest and most important Spring Classics for men – it's their 121st edition – but for women, it's only edition number four.
The Hell of the North produces more drama and demonstrations of bike handling, bravery, resilience, and triumph over adversity than every other one-day race for both fields, but the women's race still lacks some key features compared to the men's.
The rest of the narratives are quite similar: the Paris-Roubaix Femmes contenders are the strongest and most skilled, but any weakness in a team can be easily exploited. Any moment of inattention can lead to disaster, and the race day weather forecast is the most closely watched of any on the calendar.
The 2024 Paris-Roubaix Femmes is again bound to be a race to remember, no matter who wins, as it adds another layer to the short history of the women's event. Cyclingnews examines five key talking points to consider for Saturday.
SD Worx need to regain their focus
The Dutch team of world champion Lotte Kopecky were uncharacteristically sloppy in the Tour of Flanders and it cost them. Kopecky was missing her usual snap in the climbs and might be showing signs of fatigue after adding the UAE Tour to her usual early-season programme.
Pressure from the media and the internal strife brought about by news of Demi Vollering's possible departure from the team would not have helped morale. They seemed scattered last weekend, but the biggest problem was Kopecky dropping back to the team car for a feed as the race approached the Koppenberg.
The world champion was out of position at a critical time in the race, and it cost the team, as Vollering had to wait for Kopecky. They came within five seconds of the winning trio but that five seconds cost them plenty. They will not be making the mistake twice.
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Lessons learned may also be a necessary theme for Paris-Roubaix, where last year the team let a breakaway get so far up the road that they were sprinting for seventh.
Kopecky didn't appear to be physically off in the Tour of Flanders as much as she looked to be mentally off. With better weather expected for Roubaix, that will be one less factor for her to shake off and despite everything that happened in Flanders, she still has to be the main Paris-Roubaix Femmes favourite.
Having SD Worx off their game made the Tour of Flanders perhaps more exciting for fans, but it certainly wasn't for the Dutch team. They'll need to get their focus back if they're going to claim their first ever Paris-Roubaix victory on Saturday.
Lidl-Trek have the morale and momentum
In contrast to SD Worx, Lidl-Trek were perfect in the Tour of Flanders despite losing Lizzie Deignan to an early crash.
As one of the defending Paris-Roubaix champions, it is unfortunate that Deignan fractured her arm and will be out of this year's race. Tour of Flanders winner Elisa Longo Borghini, a winner of Paris-Roubaix in 2022, was on the reserve list but the team has now confirmed that she will not be competing in the Hell of the North.
Longo Borghini plans to target the Ardennes Classics but really, with the form she has, it is difficult not to be seeing her racing at Paris-Roubaix.
The Italian champion's nightmare 2023 showed that you have to take good form when you can because who knows what will happen tomorrow. With podiums in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche and the win in the Tour of Flanders, Longo Borghini looks well-placed to add another cobble trophy to her mantle.
With SD Worx looking slightly less dominant than the past few years, Lidl-Trek are filling the vacuum, and even without Longo Borghini, they will still go into Paris-Roubaix with more morale and momentum, and with a powerful team. The team that is the only squad to have taken more than one Paris-Roubaix title could perhaps make it three from four this year.
Is it time for the women to race through Arenberg Forest?
Historically, Paris-Roubaix is one of the longest, toughest races on the calendar but for women, the race has fallen short. In its first edition, the race was only 116.4km long and, by the time the television cameras came on, Lizzie Deignan was already off the front en route to her victory.
The race got longer in 2022 but only with a circuit around the start in Denain to bring it to 124.7km. The opening loop was extended by almost 24km last year and now the race is 148.5km long, but the race still lacks the iconic Trouée d'Arenberg.
The women's peloton might not be beating their drums demanding Arenberg be added, but is Paris-Roubaix really Paris-Roubaix without it? Even the sportif that goes along with the race goes through the forest. If the MAMiL crowd can go through the Arenberg, why not the professional women?
There have been plenty of reasons given to exclude the sector for Paris-Roubaix Femmes, a key one cited is the danger of hitting it with a big bunch early in the shorter women's race.
Still if the ASO can considering adding turns to slow down the men's race and make it safer, then why could the same not be done for the women. Or if they are worried about it being dangerous, perhaps they can open up the cycle path and give riders options to avoid the worst of the pavé, as the men have done in the past.
The women's editions of Paris-Roubaix have all been run at nearly 40kph, and while most of the other women's Classics last four hours, the Hell of the North falls short of that, so undoubtedly, there is room in the schedule to add the Trouée. And Paris-Roubaix has the advantage of the pro races being on different days, so there would be less worry about the race overlapping with the men.
If the women's peloton want to race through the Arenberg forest, surely with enough will there is a way.
Incomplete live television cover continues
The men have start-to-finish live broadcast coverage, including the first 96 kilometres before the first cobbles, so why don't we have a start-to-finish live for the women's Paris-Roubaix?
The women's start time is 13:35, and the live broadcast won't start until 15:15.
If that part of the men's race is exciting enough to be on television, isn't the first 66km before the first pavé sector in the women's race equally so?
The past women's editions have been clicked off at 39kph. Do the math, and the delay of almost two hours cuts out all of the team tactics and attacks ahead of the cobbles.
As noted above, the broadcast in the first edition of the women's race completely missed the winning move. Add to this the fact that the men's race is usually six hours long and the women's not even four hours, so fans only get to enjoy the women's race for a third of the time of the men's.
It's time for the ASO and their partner broadcasters to give the women equal treatment and provide start-to-finish live coverage.
We'll miss the cyclocross riders
After lighting up the Spring Classics and scoring two podiums, Puck Pieterse has been one of the most exciting riders to watch of the season so far. So it's a shame –for road cycling fans at least – that she will put her road bike on the hook to refocus on the MTB World Cups in preparation for the Paris Olympics.
In cyclocross, Pieterse along with Shirin van Anrooij and Fem van Empel have provided the most thrilling rivalries to watch over the past few years and we would love to see that translate to the road.
Van Anrooij, who skipped the 'cross season, and Pieterse helped to liven the race at the Tour of Flanders and we will sadly not have them for Roubaix. We can only hope that Fem van Empel's rising form will fill the gap with another top performance from the offroad set.
There is, of course, always Marianne Vos to watch if you want to focus on multi-discipline stars. With wins in Dwars door Vlaanderen and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, there is a very good chance the Dutchwoman will add a missing trophy to her very full award display in Paris-Roubaix on Saturday.
Cyclocross experience isn't required for the Hell of the North, but the race is a beautiful mashup of road and off-road racing, and we love to see the stars of winter shine in April.
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Laura Weislo is a Cyclingnews veteran of 20 years. Having joined in 2006, Laura extensively covered the Operacion Puerto doping scandal, the years-long conflict between the UCI and the Tour de France organisers ASO over the creation of the WorldTour, and the downfall of Lance Armstrong and his lifetime ban for doping. As Managing Editor, Laura coordinates coverage for North American events and global news.
