Paris-Roubaix to be moved to Autumn? David Lappartient reports he's "considering changes"

After last year's success in having a Paris-Roubaix raced during the fall, UCI President David Lappartient has talked in a recent interview about a possible change of calendar for the cobbled classic in the coming years as a way to open up the calendar, in which there is very little opposition.

“Paris-Roubaix was always on the second Sunday in April. Last spring, however, the competition was banned by the local authorities due to the COVID-19 situation in northern France. Out of necessity, a place on the calendar for Paris-Roubaix was found in the autumn. That move to October 3 has not made the competition any less attractive. On the contrary, this was one of the most heroic editions of ‘the Hell of the North’ in history," Lappartient told Wielerflits.

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"I spoke about this with organizer ASO. They indicated that there would never have been any consideration before to change the Paris-Roubaix date. Now they are very different. In the future, that creates many more possibilities," he added.

Having been raced in the 2nd and 3rd of October last year due to the spring's Covid restrictions in France, Paris-Roubaix saw a wet edition that proved very popular amongst fans of the sport. With that feedback, there have been talks about the definitive change of what is currently the third monument of cycling into a different spot in the calendar, and possibly not just Roubaix.

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He added: “End the season with the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix? That’s something we couldn’t imagine in the past. Now I ask myself: why not? Wouldn’t that open up possibilities in the calendar when we organize these two, perhaps the two largest, monuments at the end of the year.”

“We used to stick to certain dates because we had been planning the calendar in this way for years. How we will implement the reform is still unclear. But all parties in cycling have indicated to us that they are open to considering changes," he added.

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This hypothetical change would not dramatically alter the calendar dramatically, however it could bring new changes to the World Tour calendar with races being moved to spots where they could benefit from their place in the calendar.

“It may be that a grand tour might be postponed one or two weeks, but broadly it will remain the same. The Tour de France will be organized in July. The Giro d’Italia will continue to take place before the Tour de France, while the Vuelta a España will have its place after the Tour. We will not change the frame of the calendar regarding the grand tours. You cannot open the season with a grand tour, while at the end of October you cannot close the season with it due to the weather conditions in the high mountains.”

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