2011 Paris Roubaix As Ireland’s undisputed King of the Classics Sean Kelly once put it: “Paris-Roubaix is the most horrible bike race to ride, but the most wonderful to win.”
Loathed but loved, hated but respected, Paris-Roubaix’s 27 sections of rutted, decaying farmtrack cobbles in northern France lie at the heart of cycling’s most spectacular one-day Classic.
There are no hiding places in the Hell of the North, a course specifically designed to test the riders to the the limits of their courage, strength and technical ability. This is an event where crashes form as much a part of the race’s outcome as breakaways, where only the best of bikehandlers can survive in the sport’s most challenging terrain, and where strategy, success and survival blend into one.
For those whose hopes are not shattered in a maelstrom of mud, cobbles and dust, there is the chance of glory - but only a chance. Because only the greatest of champions can triumph in Paris-Roubaix, a race that takes professional cycling back to the barest, most primitive roots of the sport.