Money and security forces Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Roubaix Femmes to take place on the same day in 2026

Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Roubaix Femmes are, for each peloton respectively, two of the most exciting races in the entire pro cycling calendar. Since its creation in 2021, the women's race had taken place the Saturday before the Sunday's men event, however both races will take place on the 12th of April next year. The reasons why have been explained.  

“Above all, there is the provision of security. The system only needs to be set up once, on the same day. This is much less restrictive for the police," race director Thierry Gouvenou shared in words to Direct Velo.

The logistics end up being the limiting factor, with the need to shut down roads all over the north of France on both days causes a large strain on the need for police and volunteers for both events. Reducing the strain to one day makes it less of a challenge on the Gouvenou to properly and safely organize the two events.

Whilst he does not reveal the exact cause of it, "there are also budgetary reasons," he assures. Certainly the closing of roads also comes at a cost, which in the region of Lille, could be quite an obstacle for an entire weekend. However Gouvenou believes that this change will not be to the detriment of either event.

“It already wasn’t bad on the Saturday, but now people will watch the men and then the women’s race,” he believes. Hence, the crowds that travel to the cobbled sectors on Sunday will be able to see the riders of both men's and women's peloton race by, and Paris-Roubaix Femmes will also inevitably have larger crowd sizes because of it.

This year Pauline Ferrand-Prévot took a stellar victory on the women's race whilst Mathieu van der Poel won the 'Hell of the North' for a third consecutive occasion, beating Tadej Pogacar after the World Champion had a slight fall in the final kilometers.