Paris-Roubaix cobbles are "extremely dry" according to race director

After last year's wet Paris-Roubaix which has provided for some gruesome action on the cobbles, the forecast for this year's edition is back to it's normal weather as the riders are set to have a dry spell in the narrow roads.

Race director Thierry Gouvenou has said: “I don’t remember the cobblestones being so dry and in good condition. They are extremely dry... Normally you have to fix something after such a [course] preview, but that is not the case now. We benefit from the work we did in October. I took notice of the Wallers sector. Last fall, it was mossy and swampy, but now we’re seeing the benefit of the work last year.”

“We begged for rain at the organization for a long time and we saw it in 2021. Now we are happy that the sun is back. That ensures much less stress,” he added.

Every year it is very frequent for the cycling fanbase to hope for a wet Paris-Roubaix. Last year that came to be, in which Liezzie Deignan took an incredible win attacking before the cobbled sectors, whilst the men's race saw Sonny Colbrelli conquer a mud-filled race. In both, crashes and injuries came aplenty. "In rainy weather, you eliminate a lot of riders, especially psychologically," Gouvenou said.

“In dry weather, the cards are different. It will go faster and the work of the teams and team tactics will become much more important," he concluded.