Paris-Roubaix 2024: Everything you need to know

Date: Saturday, April 6 (women) and Sunday, April 7, 2024 (men)
Start: Compiègne (men), Denain (women)
Finish: Roubaix
Total distance: 259.9km / 148.5km 
Defending champion: Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Alison Jackson (EF Education-Cannondale)

Paris-Roubaix is one of the oldest races in men’s professional cycling and is one of cycling’s five legendary Monuments. Riders first tackled the infamous cobbled roads of northern France in 1896, and this year will be the 121st edition. It will be held the day after the fourth edition of the women’s race on Sunday April 6, 2024.

Paris-Roubaix has aptly been nicknamed the Hell of the North, a Sunday in Hell and the Queen of the Classics in its past. The parcours are brutal and often leave riders covered in dust, mud, and grit alongside their own sweat and tears as one of the toughest races to finish in all of cycling. 

The reputation of the race is such that just reaching the velodrome within the time limit can make a rider's career. At the same time, some are lucky enough to take a podium or a victory and etch their name in the history of cycling forever. Of course, some transcend the abilities of an average rider and garner multiple victories over the course of their careers. That illustrious list includes household names like Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck, Francesco Moser, Sean Kelly, Johan Museeuw, Tom Boonen, and Fabian Cancellara, among others.

De Vlaeminck and Boonen are perhaps the finest over the French cobbles, each arriving at the famous Roubaix Velodrome as champion on a record four occasions. The Belgians have been the best at Roubaix for men throughout history as six separate riders have won the fabled Monument three or more times. Despite this, the Belgians have only managed second in the last two editions with Sonny Colbrelli and Dylan van Baarle the last two winners. 

The winner of last year’s race was Mathieu van der Poel after Wout van Aert had an untimely puncture which left Van der Poel on his own for the last 14km of the race. Van der Poel will be back to defend his title for a second year in a row, however, he’ll face a stacked line-up of riders looking to deny him back-to-back titles.

Image by James Startt

Men's Paris-Roubaix 2024 team list:

• Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
• Alpecin-Deceuninck
• Arkéa-B&B Hotels
• Astana Qazaqstan
• Bahrain-Victorious 
• Bora-Hansgrohe 
• Cofidis
• EF Education-EasyPost
• Groupama FDJ
• Ineos Grenadiers 
• Intermarché-Wanty
• Visma-Lease a Bike
• Lidl-Trek
• Movistar
• Soudal–Quick-Step
• Jayco Alula
• Israel-Premier Tech
• Uno-X Mobility 
• Bingoal WB 
• Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
• Team Flanders-Baloise 
• TotalEnergies

Men's Paris-Roubaix 2024 route: 

The men will face a slightly longer route this year at 259.9km, which includes 55.7km of bone-jarring cobblestones over 29 sectors. The first section of pavé – Troisvilles à Inchy – comes after 96km of racing, and from then on, the sections come thick and fast. One of the longest stretches of pavé follows not long after. The Quiévy à Saint-Python is marked a four-star in difficulty and stretches for 3.7km. 

Once again the trio of famous five-star cobbled sections – the Trouée d'Arenberg, Mons-en-Pévèle and the Carrefour de l'Arbre – will rear their ugly heads. The first of these is a 2.3km section of poorly placed, dangerous cobbles through Trouée d'Arenberg (sector 19) – the forest of Arenberg. It comes much earlier in the race, around 100km from the finish. The Mons-en-Pévèle (sector 11) appears with 50km remaining, and this sector can often draw out the group from which the winner will emerge.

Route image sourced from Paris-Roubaix website

The final arena for solo, decisive moves tends to come on the four-star Camphin-en-Pévèle (sector five) and the five-star Carrefour de l’Arbre (sector four). Both these sectors appear within a kilometre of each other and less than 20km from the velodrome in Roubaix, and can make or break the fortunes of the riders at the front of the race.

Once the riders arrive in the velodrome they will complete the traditional lap-and-a-half before the winner can celebrate amongst the roar of the crowd.

Paris-Roubaix Femmes

The women’s peloton had to see 117 editions of the men's race go by before they got their chance to race on the pavè. The fourth edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes will be held on Saturday, April 6, 2024. The women’s peloton will complete a similar but shorter route to the men, including the five-star sectors Mons-en–Pévèle and Carrefour de l’Arbre. 

The women’s race has a short history in which Lidl-Trek have dominated with two solo wins – Lizzie Deignan in the inaugural edition and Elisa Longo Borghini in 2022 – but Alison Jackson (EF Education-Cannondale) broke the Lidl-Trek winning streak last year after an unlikely breakaway win, which saw the Canadian rider hold the iconic Roubaix cobblestone above her head. Jackson will be back again this year, hoping to be the only female rider to win this Monument for a second time. 

However, Lidl-Trek will return to the race in 2024 with Elisa Balsamo, who is on superb form so far this season, and Ellen van Dijk. However, every team will want to win this race considering its prestige. One team which hasn’t won this race, despite having won pretty much every other race on the calendar, is SD Worx-Protime. The Dutch team will bring world champion Lotte Kopecky, Lorena Wiebes and Femke Markus to lead the squad this year.

Image by Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com

Paris-Roubaix Femmes 2024 teams: 

• Lotto Dstny Ladies
• AG Insurance-Soudal Team
• Canyon//SRAM Racing
• Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team
• FDJ-Suez
• Fenix-Deceuninck
• Human Powered Health
• Lidl-Trek
• Liv Alula Jayco 
• Movistar
• Roland
• Team dsm-fermenich 
• SD Worx-Protime
• Visma-Lease a Bike 
• UAE Team ADQ 
• Uno-X Mobility 
• Cofidis Women Team
• Lifeplus Wahoo 
• ST Michel-Mavic-Auber93 WE
• EF Education-Cannondale
• Arkéa-B&B Hotels Women
• Team Coop-Repsol
• VolkerWessels Women’s Pro Cycling Team
• Team Komugo-Grand Est
• Winspace

Paris-Roubaix Femmes 2024 route:

Route image sourced on Paris-Roubaix Femmes website 

The women’s fourth edition has also been extended to 148.5km, starting in Denain before finishing at the famous velodrome in Roubaix. Like last year’s edition, the women’s peloton will tackle 17 sectors of pavè, starting with the Hornaign. To our disappointment, there is still no sign of the Trouée d'Arenberg on the women’s route but there is still the duo of other five-star sectors – Mons-en-Pévèle and the Carrefour de l'Arbre.  

The women’s peloton also finishes at the Roubaix Velodrome, where they will complete the traditional lap-and-a-half before the winner can celebrate on the podium. 

Cover image by SWPix.com