When the road gets rough and the cobblestones make the bikes rattle, a team feels like a fish in water. In this case, in the mud. Two editions, two victories. Until now, the Trek-Segafredo has triumphed in the two years of life that the women’s Paris-Roubaix has. In 2021, Elizabeth Deignan raised her arms; in 2022, an Elisa Longo Borghini who, this year (tomorrow, at 1:45 p.m.), is once again among her favorites. Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx), second last year, and Marianne Vos (Jumbo), in 2021, will try to prevent the Italian from becoming the first cyclist ever to repeat victory in the test and, with it, the hat-trick of the American squad. Fighting with them, there will be no Annemiek van Vleuten, with bitter memories: in the first edition of the race, he suffered a double fracture in the pelvis and shoulder. Without its great star, Movistar will visit the ‘Hell of the North’ with Gloria Rodríguez, Sheyla Gutiérrez, Aude Biannic, Floortje Mackaij and Arlenis Sierra.
“It is a race that stands out on the calendar. When it was added to the women’s calendar three years ago, we cyclists didn’t know what to expect. You see it on TV and you know it’s going to be tough, but it’s hard to know what you’ll find during the race. There is no other classic like Paris-Roubaix ”, he said this week You. In his first contact with the course, despite not being able to climb to the top, he impressed with his control of the bike on the cobbled terrain. Last year, when she was the main favorite, the coronavirus blocked her way. This time, she will also have to compete with an Imperial Kopecky.which has added three of the five races in which it has participated in this 2023.
all help is little
By state of form, the SD rider starts from pole position on a 145.4-kilometre route with 17 cobbled sections between Denain and the Roubaix velodrome. A hell in which physical and mental strength is as necessary, in which strategy can be as decisive as fortune. Within its unpredictable script, the mythical Mons-en-Pévèle, 49 km away at the end, and the sequence between Camphin-en-Pévèle (20 km away) and Carrefour de l’Arbre (17 km away) can be decisive. “They are hard sections (the pavés). You have to go with the right material and wheels. And the position is essential. You have to go fast on them, but feeling comfortable, trying to go through the center ”, added Vos in his words. Longo Borghini, in order to protect himself from all this, will be excellently accompanied by Elisa Balsamo and Lucinda Brand, cyclo-cross world champion. All help is little in the queen of the classics.