You need to start counting down the days until July 6th. Because then the cyclists will return on the cobblestones, on the magic of the classic of the classics, the Hell of the North, the Paris-Roubaix. Sections that will be climbed in two and a half months by the runners of the Tour to relive yesterday’s spectacle, as magnificent as it is fast and as spectacular as it is wonderful to break all records of the most beautiful of cycling monuments.
The public returned with a controlled pandemic. And there were masses of people on the grass of the Arenberg forest or next to the fields of the Arenberg Crossroads of the Tree. Because this is where the cobblestones of the department of the North of France become barriers that hinder the pedaling of cyclists who bounce on the bike and who are skillfully handled to dodge the stones, six million no more and no less in the sectors that condemn success or failure over 257 miles.
Wind to harden the test
It was the Paris-Roubaix faster (almost 46 km / h) since the race was created in 1896, then on roads where only ox-carts traveled. Today only the cobblestones are preserved for cycling, for hell and for the thousands of cyclists who every year want to imitate the heroes who often arrive alone, as happened yesterday in Dylan VanBaarle, a 29 – year – old Dutchman at the velodrome in Roubaix to present the powerful Ineos with the first victory in such a sensational race. The most powerful cycling team on the planet had never won the race, nor had its bike brand, the famous Pinarello, which propelled them. Miguel Indurain in four of the five victories achieved in Paris.
There were not only stones, but wind and even moments to relive the always majestic duel between two titans called Wout van Aert (second in Roubaix) i Mathieu van der Poel, that he fell defeated before his rival of fatigues. Cyclists who fight on the mud of cyclocross, the spring classics and who will give life and character to the first days of the Tour until the mountain points to the horizon of the French round.
Of the Spaniards, unfortunately, and of the Movistar, almost no news. Ivan García Cortina, the best, crossed the finish line in 25th position
