Reflections and highlights from Paris-Roubaix – What we witnessed and felt on the ground and at home

Every single year, Paris-Roubaix delivers a race that we could talk about for hours, days even – far longer than the cumulative nine and a half hours the men's and women's pelotons spent on the roads of northern France on Sunday afternoon.

It's a cliché, but every single rider who finishes, and every one who doesn't, has their own story at Roubaix. It's a brutal, challenging day out for every man and women, whether they finish first or 101st.

In the media and on Cyclingnews, we cover a lot of those stories, but there is always so much you don't get to read about or watch on TV. There are some things you only get from being there, or perhaps even from doing it. There are also things that you'd never pick up from the roadside, and can only be understood by installing yourself to watch eight hours of bike racing in a row.

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In the last 24 hours since the races finished, all the major storylines and headlines have been published, dissected and read, but as the dust literally settles on another edition of Roubaix, we got to thinking about our our personal highlights and reflections.

Four of our team were on the ground in France for five days, digging into the racing, the tech, and all the atmosphere, and the rest of us were hooked from home. With a day to start digesting what happened on the road and off it, here are some of our reflections from the velodrome, the press room and beyond.

The Roubaix roar – Patrick (Deputy Editor)

Patrick was on the ground, reporting on his first Roubaix since 2016.

The Roubaix roar is surely one of the most electrifying sounds in professional cycling, if not all of sport.

It had been 10 years since I’d last heard it, a full decade since I’d last stepped foot in the middle of the iconic outdoor velodrome that hosts the finish of Paris-Roubaix. On that day, Tom Boonen swung onto the track in the company of Mat Hayman – a race for the ages, and a roar for the ages.

Road races usually take place in straight lines. You might get huge crowds but what’s unique about the Roubaix velodrome is that it’s a 360-degree arena – a circle of noise surrounding the action. Like with the atmosphere at major track cycling events, the noise ripples its way around in time with the riders, fans creating a wave of noise. But nothing beats that initial roar, when the riders take that right-hand bend off the road and the crowd sees them in the flesh for the first time. It’s always better when more than one rider appears.

Paris-Roubaix has been dominated by solo victories in recent years but this year, in both races, there was the added tension of the result being unknown, to be decided in front of our eyes. What’s more, we had the biggest names and the most captivating of storylines presenting themselves before us, in both cases.

I was wearing a jacket so I don’t know about goosebumps but I could feel my heart beating in my chest. The footage was on the big screens but I wanted to follow the riders with my own eyes, for as long as possible, even if they were obscured from view at certain points by the infrastructure in the middle of the track.

Maybe I’m getting old, more aware of the need to soak these things in. Maybe it’s the fact that I hadn’t been to a bike race in two years, having taken some time away from the sport. Maybe it’s the fact that I’d underestimated Paris-Roubaix for so long – the Flemish swing was always my assignment and my passion when it came to covering the Spring Classics with Cyclingnews and it left little emotional bandwidth for the Hell of the North.

But when I heard that roar and that ripple, it was a sudden rush, a reminder of just how special this race is and just how special this sport can be.

A reminder that other-worldly bike handling trumps set-up – Will (Senior Tech Writer)

Will was in France covering his third Roubaix in a row and keeping an eye on all things bikes

I should say this at the outset before anyone decides to pile on in the comments: I don't think Tadej Pogačar is a bad bike handler.

That being said, there was one corner near the final that stuck in my mind and distilled the race for me. Wout van Aert takes the racing line, cuts the apex, hopping off the cobbles onto the dirt, before hopping back onto the polished stones. Pogačar doesn't cut, stays on the cobbles, goes wide and nearly collides with Van Aert's rear wheel on exiting the corner.

While Pogačar had to chase on several times for multiple reasons, there must have been so many incidents throughout the race where the Belgian saved a little bit of energy by leaning into his cyclo-cross skills, and these must have all added up. Watching Mathieu van der Poel, also aboard a much more ‘normal’ set-up like Van Aert, was absolutely rail sketchy in corners, like it was nothing. It made me realise that no matter how much you modify your bike, you can't use technology to out-do experience, which is obviously disappointing as a tech journalist.

Pogačar's heavily-modified Colnago was a joy to behold, but there's more to conquering the stones than just fitting massive tyres.

Cycling can be a cruel and unforgiving sport at times, there is never a guarantee that a riders' efforts will be rewarded – Tom (Tech Writer)

Tom was in France covering tech, but reflected on the race itself.

My personal highlight from the Paris-Roubaix weekend was seeing Wout van Aert claim an emotional and hugely-popular victory at a race that some thought to now be beyond his grasp.

Van Aert’s near misses, crashes and bad luck over the past few years have been well documented. There have been wins, and some good ones, along the way, but an underlying feeling of should have, would have, could have was becoming inescapable when it came to Van Aert and the cobbled monuments.

Fate just seems to show its hand a little more at Roubaix, riders who keep coming back for more are sometimes rewarded in the end, Mat Hayman’s win in 2016 is an example that springs to mind.

Van Aert finally got to lift his cobblestone to the sky on Sunday. Nothing can take that from him now.

We shouldn't treat Paris-Roubaix like other races, it warrants and needs more time – Pete (Engagement Editor)

Pete was back in Roubaix for his second year covering the two races, but in a very different format.

Sunday marked my second Paris-Roubaix in as many years, and with it the unique opportunity to compare the much-discussed change to the schedule by race organisers ASO that brought both men's and women's races into the same day from inside the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux, not just as a journalist, but as a cycling fan.

Paris-Roubaix isn't viewed by all cycling fans as the pinnacle one-day race in the sport, given the impact that fortune, good or bad, can have on the race. I can understand why purists may deem the Tour of Flanders as a truer gauge of cycling greatness. Yet, to me, Roubaix is so special because pre-race predictions go out the window the moment the gates of hell swing open and tyre rubber hits pavé. While an overused adage, every rider has their own story to tell from their day on the cobbles.

I found out very quickly on my first visit to this cycling heartland that making sense of all the storylines took several hours. By breakfast on Sunday morning last year, as attention pivoted to the men's race, there were still elements of the women's race only just coming out in the dirt-stained wash, such is the chaotic, high-intensity nature of the race.

Fast forward 12 months, and the task of consuming and processing the two events was no different. Except this time around, after the commotion of the men's finish had begun to fade, there was roughly no more than an hour before the first women arrived in the velodrome. As Wout van Aert spoke poignantly in his post-race press conference of how his victory was dedicated to late teammate Michael Goolaerts, who died during the 2018 edition of L'Enfer du Nord, the press room TVs showed the women's race splintering on the final few cobbled sectors as the race-defining selection was made.

The races, their noise, countless storylines, and talking points are simply too vast and often meaningful to be contained in just one afternoon.

Arguments for the schedule change have centred around the point that other races, such as the Tour of Flanders or Milan-San Remo, can host both men's and women's races on the same day. While that may be true, as many fans of women's cycling will attest, they still play second fiddle to the men's race in terms of TV coverage duration, even when broadcast concurrently.

Secondly, in the case of Paris-Roubaix, these other Classics feature far fewer decisive moments, with race-winning moves not coming until the closing stages, especially so in La Classicissima.

Put simply, Paris-Roubaix shouldn't be treated in the same way as these other races, because it's not like other races. The bandwidth required to follow both races intensely, as the course demands, is diluted by the new format, and removes any opportunity for fans to stand still and take stock after a breathless day in hell.

Something in Roubaix's suffering will always make it the most cathartic, emotional race on the calendar – Matilda (Assistant Features Editor)

Matilda watched every minute of both races under a blanket on her sofa.

Look, I don't think you're meant to admit this as a journalist, but I know I'm not the only one: I teared up on more than one occasion watching Paris-Roubaix yesterday. Van Aert's win (and subsequent tears of his own) was huge, obviously, but Marianne Vos' emotions at the finish got me too, and even small things like Mads Pedersen's self-criticism struck a chord.

I've been known to be touched by bike races before, but there's something about Roubaix that just always seems to tug on the heartstrings. I think it's something about the suffering on the bike that brings into even sharper focus the suffering riders go through off it, too. It's a hard, hard race, testing mental and physical strength more than any other event, just because of all the scary or difficult moments you have to go through, and I think that brings the sense of human strength to the fore.

I think Roubaix is also often a lonely race. Alison Jackson posted last night about doing 90km of the race totally on her own, and that will be true for dozens of others too. There's not always someone there to help you, to give you a wheel, or refill your bottle. You have to push on alone, with only your own thoughts and your own pain.

It's no wonder the emotions come pouring out at the finish – and I can't help but be affected, even as just a viewer.

Cherry juice doesn't get sweeter when you win – Josh (Associate Editor, Tech)

Josh held down the busy tech fort from home on Sunday

Wout van Aert's win left nary a dry eye in the house, and given I recently became a dad, seeing him embrace his kids while collapsed on the floor of the velodrome really hit me. That was definitely a highlight, but it's too obvious a choice for a roundup such as this.

Instead, my pick is the moment Van Aert was handed a cherry juice recovery drink mid-interview, downed it, and was taken aback by its sourness.

It was enough to make the ever-professional interviewer Seb Piquet laugh, but amid the sombre subject of the Belgian's turbulent career, the pair moved swiftly on.

Champions are champions, whether they win or lose on the day – James (Staff Writer)

James and his analytical eye watched Roubaix from home this year.

Mathieu van der Poel and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot showed the true nature of defending champions in their Paris-Roubaix 2026 performances, with the Dutchman's all-out chase and the Frenchwoman's loyalty to Marianne Vos showing just why they are the modern-day icons they are.

While Van der Poel's 2026 Paris-Roubaix might be remembered for him walking the wrong way down the Trouée d'Arenberg after a puncture, and then a failed bike change with Jasper Philipsen saw him all but accept defeat on the iconic cobbled road, the performance he still managed to put in shouldn't be ignored.

Yes, Alpecin messed up by having different pedals on their two top stars' bikes, and the panic in Arenberg did lose them the race, but everyone has bad luck on the road to Roubaix; you just have to hope yours comes at a more favourable moment.

Winning four in a row wasn't meant to be for Van der Poel, but starting his post-Arenberg chase at almost 2:30 down on the leading group of favourites would have seen other, lesser riders throw in the towel. Even he looked dejected at first, but soldiering on as he did, throwing full caution to the wind and powering over the cobbles in pursuit of Van Aert and Pogačar brought him as close as just over 20 seconds behind, and still in the fight for the podium.

Was he the strongest on the day? We'll never know, and in truth, it doesn't really matter. He showed the true characteristics of a champion as he chased to try and bring it back, and when he lost, he accepted defeat as all great riders should: by congratulating the winner.

Van Aert and Van der Poel have been eternally linked due to their long-term rivalry, which reaches back to cyclo-cross races when they were just boys, but as the Belgian cried in celebration in the velodrome, it was fitting that the Dutchman was there to shake his hand and say chapeau – he knows what it means to survive Roubaix and win it.

Ferrand-Prévot wasn't supposed to race Roubaix again this season, but after the death of her star teammate's father, she took the start to try and bring Vos the victory that had been eluding her illustrious palmarès.

Were Visma's two leaders tactically perfect in the finale against Franzi Koch? Probably not, rolling attacks with the both of them may have garnered a better chance to retain Ferrand-Prévot's crown from 12 months prior.

But that task at hand was more important, and even for a serial winner as clinical as Ferrand-Prévot, in the biggest French one-day race of all, she put her teammate before her and did everything to try and bring her victory. Loyalty was more important for her and that shouldn't be overlooked when it comes to the culture of a team and the nature of a true champion.

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