THERE’S NO OTHER RACE LIKE IT

Paris-Roubaix is a unique race in cycling, dating back 125 years and covering cobbled roads only seen once a season. Procycling asks people who have a special relationship with the race what makes the Queen of the Classics so special

INTERVIEWS ADAM BECKET, SOPHIE HURCOM, EDWARD PICKERING

WON PARIS-ROUBAIX IN 2014

NIKI TERPSTRA Rider, Total Direct Energie

 Ramos (Terpstra), Bonaventure 

Roubaix has a special place in my heart. When I was a little kid and I started cycling, Roubaix was one of the races I admired the most. I was watching the television like the cyclists were the heroes, because on the television it looks tough but if you see it in real life it’s even harder. I thought it was a special race and when I was a first year professional and had the opportunity to start there, it was a really special feeling.

The route hasn’t changed for a lot of years. You can’t compare the cobbles with other cobbles, because in Belgium the cobbles are rough but in the north of France it’s even rougher. And also we don’t race there any other time of the year. It’s really one day of the year. In Flanders, we have a lot of races here and you do the cobbled sections and the small hills in another race and it’s just another mix of those roads. But in Roubaix, you race those roads just once.

Everybody has got a luxury team bus where you can shower - but sometimes I take my backpack out of the bus and go to the showers there. These small things make it extra historic, I think, and heroic. It’s almost unbelievable that I won there. It sounds silly, but it’s really a dream come true. It is a race that suits me well. I knew it, but actually finishing it off, I will never forget that moment. Maybe later on I will realise it even more. Every winner has their name on a plate in the showers, and when you see your plate against the wall there with all the other big names, it makes me proud.

Terpstra celebrates in the Roubaix velodrome as he wins in 2014

Images: Lennon

READY FOR THE INAUGURAL WOMEN’S RACE

EMILIA FAHLIN Rider, FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine

Claessen (Vanmarcke)/all via Getty, Cor Vos (Fahlin)

After doing the recon ride, I understood why you should, because it is unique. It is really like nothing else we’ve done before. I’ve always watched this race; it’s one of my favourites. I watched it when we had a Swedish winner in Magnus Bäckstedt when I was young. Sitting on the sofa watching the TV, you see it’s rough and you see it’s hard but riding it is something unreal.

Some of the sectors are crazy.

You need pure power and you need a good day to be able to produce the power, but it’s also the technique to have the right gear and to float on the cobbles. You need a bit of practice, and you need good equipment and you need equipment testing - tyre pressure and tyre width. All of the small details in a race like this are important. And also the right feel on the cobbles, the right pedal stroke and the right movement of the body and how you hold the bars. It’s sort of like making music on the bike over the cobbles. It’s something we don’t have to focus on normally.