April 12, 2026
Paris-Roubaix is often referred to as L'Enfer du Nord, or Hell of the North, and is named as such because of the destruction of Northern France that was described after the First World War. The region rebuilt and modernized but the cobblestones, or pavé as it is in French, remain as the defining feature of the third Monument of the cycling season. The 123rd edition of the race covers 258 km with 30 cobbled sectors that total 54.8 kilometers of the toughest road conditions the riders will see all year. After rolling out from Compiègne, there are 96 km of paved roads. Many people think these are flat, easy kilometers but the road constantly rolls up and down and, with a threat of wind and the fight to make the break, the first two hours are always quite difficult. The first cobbled sector begins with the three-star sector of Troisville à Inchy with 160 km to go. The first of three five-star sectors comes with 100 km remaining on the infamous Trouée d'Arenberg. The next five-star sector is Mons-en-Pévèle, 45 km from the finish, with the third coming just 17 km from the line on the Carrefour de l'Arbre. The last few sectors should not be discounted but the race could already have been decided at this point. The last 8 km brings the riders through Roubaix and into the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux for one and a half laps on the concrete track before the finish in front of a packed grandstand, a completely unique atmosphere to anything else in cycling.
Highlighted Riders:
Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar, Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert, Daan Hoole, Arnaud De Lie, Jonas Rutsch, Filippo Ganna, Dylan van Baarle, Jasper Stuyven, Alec Segaert, Matej Mohorič, Jonas Abrahamsen, Mike Teunissen, Kasper Asgreen, Anthony Turgis, Luke Durbridge, Marco Haller, Aimé De Gendt, Lukáš Kubiš
Race Summary
A beautiful morning greeted the riders in the architecturally stunning Compiègne as the rolled out along the Oise River for the start of the neutral zone. The official start was given upon the entrance to the La forêt domaniale de Laigue and attacks went right away with a 15 km/hr tailwind at their backs. Riley Sheehan of NSN Cycling, Matevž Govekar of Bahrain Victorious, and Martijn Rasenberg of Unibet Rose Rockets snuck away from the peloton through Saint-Léger-aux-Bois and quickly built a lead of 15 seconds. The bunch certainly was not happy and attacks continued. Cees Bol of Decathlon CMA CGM jumped across to make four at the front but they were all brought back when the landscape opened up through the rolling fields North of Noyon.
Attempts to form a break continued into the Département de la Somme and through Saint-Quentin but no move ever got more than a 50 meters off the front. The first cracks in the bunch appeared with 193 km to go as the road turned, making a cross-tail wind. The peloton split with about 50 riders in the front group but all of the favorites were in the second group and it was Alpecin-Premier Tech who stitched the race together 6 km later. On the approach to the village of Bohain-en-Vermandois, the average speed was over 54 km/hr which made it almost impossible for a break to form. The desire to attack ebbed as the big teams brought their leaders forward to start the positioning battle for the first sector of Troisville à Inchy that was less than 20 km down the road.
The tension was building in the bunch as they raced for every bend in the road between fields of winter wheat and neon yellow mustard seed. Ineos, Visma-Lease a Bike, Alpecin-Premier Tech, Lidl-Trek, and UAE-XRG were all sprinting for the corner into Troisville à Inchy and it was Ineos that hit the cobbles first. The dust was flying and at least ten riders had pulled off the road with mechanicals or flat tires incuding Jonas Abrahamsen of Uno-X Mobility. Mike Teunissen of XDS-Astana attacked as the bunch exited the sector. He started Viesly à Quiévy with 18 seconds on the peloton and 40 seconds to a group containing Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek who had a bike change after Troisville.
Teunissen was caught by the peloton off of Viesly à Quiévy with 154 km to go, just as Pedersen joined the back of the bunch. UAE-XRG led onto the 3.7km Quiévy à Fontaine au Tertre and settled into an easier pace that allowed riders to cluster at the front. The speed completely changed on the 3km Viesly à Briastre with Decathlon CMA CGM battling UAE-XRG for position. The bunch was strung out in single file but the group reformed and the riders took the first pause in hostilities between the Briastre and Solesmes à Haussy sectors. About 70 riders had formed the first peloton with the second half chasing at 30 seconds with only Lukáš Kubiš of Unibet Rose Rockets missing the split of the main favorites.
UAE-XRG continued to lead the first peloton on the stretch of road towards sector 24 of Saulzoir à Verchain-Maugré which allowed riders to take a breath and get some food in before the cobbles resumed. On Quérénaing à Maing with 120 km to go, Tadej Pogačar of UAE-XRG got a puncture that required a bike change. No team car was around so, with no other choice, he hoped on a Shimano Neutral Service bike. Alpecin-Premier Tech took up the pace at the front of the peloton as Pogačar was caught by a chase group and desperately searching for a team car to get a new bike. The UAE-XRG car reached Pogačar at the end of sector 21 with 116 km to go and the gap was nearly 1 minute by the time he got going again. All of his teammates dropped back and started a furious chase to get back on before the four-star Haveluy à Wallers and the five-star Trouée d'Arenberg.
Visma-Lease a Bike added a man to the front of the peloton to make the pace alongside Alpecin-Premier Tech but the effort wasn't all out until the fight for position began with 108 km to go, 3 km before Haveluy à Wallers. UAE-XRG brought the second peloton to within 20 seconds of the first group by the start of Haveluy à Wallers but all of Pogačar's teammates were used up and he was forced to ride on the front himself. Matters became even more complicated for Pogačar when Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Premier Tech hit the front and started to string out the lead group.
Only about 35 riders were left at the front of the race with a second group behind and Pogačar leading group three all by himself. Pogačar managed to catch group two and rode straight to the front to try and bring back the last 15 seconds. With 98 km to go, the connection was made and Florian Vermeersch, Pogačar's last teammate, went to the front with just 2 km remaining before the start of Arenberg.
Visma-Lease a Bike dropped Wout van Aert off to allow the Belgian to lead into Arenberg in first position. Behind was van der Poel with Pogačar a few spots further back. Thousands of fans were banging the barriers, making a tunnel of noise as the bunch rattled over the toughest sector of pavé. 1 km from the end of the segemnt, van der Poel punctured. Jasper Philipsen came up from behind and handed his bike over to van der Poel but it was too small and he couldn't get going. Van der Poel gave the bike back to get Philipsen moving again which left van der Poel stranded in the forest. Tibor Del Grosso came up to van der Poel and changed his front wheel but van der Poel had lost significant time.
Out of Arenberg with 92 km to go, the front group was down to van Aert and his teammate Christophe Laporte, Pogačar, Laurence Pithie of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Mads Pedersen, Stefan Bissegger of Decathlon CMA CGM, and Jasper Stuyven of Soudal Quickstep. Van der Poel had another puncture on Arenberg and was over 2 minutes down by the time he got a bike change at the end of the sector.
Just before Hornaing à Wandignies with 84 km to go, Filippo Ganna of Ineos and Jordi Meeus of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe bridged up to the front group to make nine leading riders. No more than 400 meters after starting Hornaing à Wandignies, Ganna flatted and was absorbed by a chase group at 45 seconds. When Pogačar led off the sector with 78 km to go, they were back down to six riders. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe went from a strong postion with two riders at the front to zero when Meeus was dropped and Pithie's rear tire went flat. At this point, the Ganna group was out to 1 minute behind with van der Poel in a select group at 90 seconds.
Bad luck struck the front group once more when Pogačar suffered his second puncture of the day with 72 km to go. He fortunately had a team car right behind his group and got a bike change to start sector 15, Tilloy à Sars-et-Rosières, about 12 seconds behind the front group. Immune to this point, van Aert had his first problem with a puncture on Tilloy à Sars-et-Rosières. Like Pogačar, his team car was behind with a spare bike but Pogačar had gone passed and van Aert was forced to chase alone.
When the lead group came off Tilloy à Sars-et-Rosières with 68 km to go, Pogačar made contact to make five riders in the front group along with Laporte, Stuyven, Bissegger, and Pedersen. Pithie and Meeus came up to van Aert and the chasing trio were 25 seconds behind. Van der Poel had bridged up to the Ganna group and were slowly coming back at 1 minute 10 seconds.
Van Aert, Pithie, and Meeus rejoined the front group with 61 km to go. No one really seemed keen to pull hard turns with Pogačar and the speed went down quite a bit. Van der Poel ripped the next section of Orchies and came off at a deficit of just 35 seconds to the front group. In van der Poel's wake was Ganna, Teunissen, Mick van Dijke and Gianni Vermeersch of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Daan Hoole of Decathlon CMA CGM, Nils Politt of UAE-XRG, Max Walscheid and Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek, Anthony Turgis of TotalEnergies, Alec Segaert of Bahrain Victorious, and Lewis Askey of NSN Cycling.
The first movement from the front group came from van Aert who nipped off the front with 54 km to go, right before sector 12, Auchy à Bersée. Pogačar closed the gap with Pedersen on the wheel but after a breath, Pogačar accelerated which distanced the Dane. With 50 km to go, van der Poel and Mick van Dijke bridged up to the remnants of the lead group to join Laporte, Stuyven, Bissegger, and Pithie at 23 seconds to Pogačar and van Aert with Pedersen somewhere in the middle.
Pogačar and van Aert worked well and had 30 seconds on the van der Poel group at the start of the five-star Mons-en-Pévèle. Pogačar made two digs on the sector but van Aert had the power to match and the pair came off with 45 km to go, 41 seconds ahead of the van der Poel group which had caught Pedersen. The next few sectors came and went and the gap was still 40 seconds as van Aert and Pogačar exited Bourghelles à Wannehain with 23 km to go.
Off of Camphin-en-Pévèle with 18 km to go, van Aert started skipping turns and the gap to the van der Poel group was down to 25 seconds with the five-star Carrefour de l'Arbre just 1 km further up the road. Pogačar led into the sector and went full but van Aert was glued to the wheel and the pair exited together, 23 seconds ahead of the chase group. Pogačar led over the last real sector of Willems à Hem at 7 km to go with the chase holding strong at 25 seconds.
Pogačar and van Aert swapped turns through the streets entering Roubaix which was enough to keep the chase at bay. Van Aert did his last pull with 1,800 meters to go and Pogačar made the right turn first, leading the duo into the vélodrome with a roar from the crowd. The bell rang out as Pogačar went up the banking through corner two until just outside 200 meters to go when van Aert opened his sprint. The Belgian was quickly passed Pogačar and a gap opened. He kept powering to the line and raised a finger into the air when he realized he had won. The gesture was in honour of his previous teammate Michael Goolaerts who passed away in this race in 2018. Pogačar hung his head and accepted his second place for the second year running, ending his streak of four Monument victories in a row. In the chase group, Stuyven got away and was able to come home for third place, 13 seconds behind, with van der Poel sprinting in for fourth a few moments later.