Despite apparent success, Arenberg 'chicane' removed from 2025 Paris-Roubaix
Cycling
Paris-Roubaix, the 'Hell of the North', is one of the most complex and exciting races of the year and perhaps it's most notable feature is the cobbled road of the Trouée d'Arenberg. The sectors is important and every year riders used to enter it at extremely high speeds, leading to fear of massive crashes - which have in some occasions happened. In 2024 an artificial chicane was introduced so as to slow down the risk, and the result was seemingly positive, but in 2025 an alternative has been put to paper.
The riders would usually enter the narrow cobbled sector at speeds of 60Km/h and in a road of such bad condition, punctures and crashes could lead to disaster situations. As the peloton gets faster and faster every year, and fighting for positioning involves more and more riders, the fears has exponentially increased. It was a very controversial decision, but the race organizers decided to insert an artificial chicane right before the start of the sector, so as to reduce the riders' speed into the sector. It was met with positive feedback mostly from riders who looked for a safer race, but a lot of criticism at the same time - even from reigning champion and eventual winner Mathieu van der Poel. Some fans even argued the chicane created a higher risk of crashes, which did not happen.
The race took place and seemingly, the corner did not affect negatively the race in any way, the only consequence was entering the sector at lower speeds. However this wasn't to become a permanent 'solution', and with the reveal of this year's route, the race organizers have revealed a change of course before the sector, which sees the riders enter the town of Arenberg through a different direction. This change means the riders won't have a straight line and flat leadout straight into the cobbled road, but instead have several technical features before entering it, which will reduce speeds and also prevent bunching up in the peloton.
Route designer Thierry Gouvenou has explained the reason for the chance in a press release issued by the race: “This year, we have found an alternative that allows us to slow down the riders in a more fluid manner, via a small detour that runs alongside the mining site in Arenberg. With this introduction, there will be four right angle corners in the kilometre before the Trouée d’Arenberg," he explains.
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😈 Here is the route of the 122nd edition of #ParisRoubaix!
— Paris-Roubaix (@parisroubaix) February 5, 2025
📏 259,2 km, 30 cobbled sections
➡️ Two sections added to the route before the Trouée d'Arenberg (sectors 24 and 23 of Artres and Famars)
➡️ Immediate approach to the Trouée d'Arenberg is also modified via a small… pic.twitter.com/Zxs2LTHG7R
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- I’d say without resolving the back problems you have no chance of resolving his state of mind. Now, back problems in young cyclists is probably going to become an issue like e.g. concussion in rugby & football. As we try to catch and form them for high performance younger and younger, we’re kind of obliging them to hone their TT skills earlier and earlier, certainly still during growth phases. Those hours in those positions are likely to have complex effects in some.Mistermaumau18-03-2025
- So no 80km solo then?Mistermaumau18-03-2025
- Yeah, yeah. Ignore the race on the day totally and stick to a plan you make public well in advance and hope your rivals fall for it. Could even have worked, if there’d not been a very similar report last year. And how many (anonymous and not) reports do you think reporters could find and choose from anyway?Mistermaumau18-03-2025
- Funny, Ineos are better without Pidcock and Pidcock is better without Ineos. The relationship must have been really toxic.Mistermaumau18-03-2025
- Winning MSR is like a throw of dice. Even if you have the best legs, you may not win it. It feels so random. I'm guessing they are trying to squeeze out the last percentage of his performance through training camp.
KerisVroom18-03-2025 - Maybe because he believes in the law of series or momentum ;-) that took Newcastle 70 years to break. No, seriously, I get the feeling Wout is going through a tough patch and feels he needs a « break ».Mistermaumau18-03-2025
- Nothing wrong with discussing, shouldn’t be for this year though. Let’s go through solutions to problems first before deciding anything. Seems there’s a lot of lobbying going on before any proposal is even on the table.Mistermaumau18-03-2025
- But what if that doesn't work? He's throwing away the chance at a monument that he can realistically win, it's not like he's skipping Lombardia type of racevappaxbipmv18-03-2025
- I thought it was obvious since last year. He wants to focus on the monuments that he hasn't won yet.KerisVroom18-03-2025
- yesKerisVroom18-03-2025