Info with one day to go
April 5 th 2024 - 18:09
The 24 teams lining up for the 4th edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift are gearing for 148.5km of battle (including 29.2km of cobble sectors) through the wind and in the sunshine. SD Worx-Protime and Lidl-Trek count on their collective strength to rule the cobbles. “The key is the team”, Lars Boom says about Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes. Dutch icon Marianne Vos (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and attackers such as the French national champion Victoire Berteau (Cofidis Women Team) will look for their own winning scenario, a year after Alison Jackson’s thrilling breakaway.
Strong winds from the South and a bright sunshine
Conditions look set to be very spring-like for the 4th edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift: "We'll be enjoying a time slot of fine weather with a temperature that could rise to 27 in the sunshine", says Franck Perque, the event director. “The southerly wind will be very strong and gusty. There's no better way to dry out any remaining water!” There could still be a few puddles, however, which could prove to be potential traps. “It’s hard to get through the muddy sections at the same speed as on dry ground”, warns Franck Perque. The route is almost identical to last year's, with the same 17 sectors and 29.2 kilometres on the cobbles. The total distance is up to 148.5km due to a slight change in the opening loop around Denain, where the start will be given at 13:35. "We're avoiding a piece of street furniture coming onto the road, because we're very vigilant about safety. This will mean an extra change of direction. Given the strength of the wind, there could be echelons even before the first sector."
Brand: "Race the finale and control the key sections"
When it comes to collective power on the cobbles, Lidl-Trek have impressed with their strength and depth in recent years. The American squad dominated the first two editions of Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift, claiming the win through Lizzie Deignan and Elisa Longo Borghini while placing another rider on the podium (Longo Borghini in 2021, Lucinda Brand in 2022). And they repeated a similar feat last week-end in Flanders, with Longo Borghini winning the Ronde and Shirin van Anrooij rounding the podium. “Roubaix begins weeks before the race”, says Brand, at the helm of the Lidl-Trek collective for Saturday. “The team work on every detail to make sure and the whole environment gives us a lot of energy towards the race. We are a strong team in the wind and we have riders who like riding on the cobbles, without being scared and with good technique. I had a good race in Flanders and I feel ready for Roubaix, then we’ll see if it’s enough. Ellen [van Dijk] wasn’t in Flanders but we’ve seen she’s super strong since she returned. Balsamo and Elynor [Bäckstedt] are very strong too… I think we have a good team to race the finale and control the key sections.”
SD Worx-Protime: “Kopecky and Wiebes can win”
Lotte Kopecky’s relationship with Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift has shown how powerful the Belgian icon can be on the cobbles (2nd in 2022, 7th last year behind the breakaway) and how victory in the Hell of the North can escape the strongest champions. “The key is the team”, her sports director Lars Boom (SD Worx-Protime) anticipates. “Lotte has a good team around her and everybody has their eyes on the same target: to win the race with one of our riders. I think we have two riders who can win, Lotte and Lorena, who is getting stronger and stronger. She did a very good Flanders, being there in the finale but it was just a bit too difficult on the climb. But this is a flat race and it suits her very well as she won Gent-Wevelgem and Scheldeprijs. She just needs to be in front, follow and do what she always does and then she can have an opportunity to win the race. Christine [Majerus] is also doing really well and you never know if a situation can arise where she’s in a position to battle for the win.” At 37, Majerus participates for the last time in Roubaix. “The last three years we weren't so lucky in Paris-Roubaix, but it's not that I like the race any less because of that”, the Luxembourg national champion says. “Hopefully 2024 will be the year when we don't make a single mistake and have the necessary dose of luck.”
Vigié: "Marianne Vos is very calm”
Marianne Vos’ list of honours is so comprehensive she’s unable herself to say how many victories she’s claimed in her stellar career. The last few weeks saw her add two more Classics to her winning record (Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Dwars door Vlaanderen), bringing her tally on the road to 250 wins (on top of which one needs to add all her conquests on the track and in cyclo-cross). Will she also claim the winner’s cobble in the André-Pétrieux velodrome after the previous editions frustrated her (2nd, DNS and 10th)? “She’s very calm”, her French teammate Margaux Vigié (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) says. “For her, it’s always about doing her best. She looks at it like a game. She focuses on the racing itself more than the result. And she never counts her chickens before they’re hatched.” At 28 years old, Vigié is the most experienced teammate for Vos this week-end, with a place of 14th in Roubaix last year. “Lidl-Trek have the strongest collective, ahead of SD Worx”, she anticipates. “We’ll have to make the most of the situations.”
Attackers unite: “The perfect scenario is to take an advantage”
The third edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift, a thriller capped off with Alison Jackson’s victory, proved again how the Hell of the North shatters pre-established scenarios and favours the attackers. “The breakaway is a gamble”, the Canadian from EF Education-Cannondale sums up. “You risk spending too much energy but you give yourself a chance to be in the finale of the race.” French national champion and local hero Victoire Berteau (Team Cofidis) is among the many riders eager to get on the move as she faces her home roads. “Wearing the jersey and participating in the greatest race at home is the most”, she says after finishing 14th in the Ronde van Vlaanderen. “The perfect scenario is to take an advantage ahead of the first cobbles. My whole family will be at the start, on the sectors and also at the finish. It brings me even more motivation. And that could make the difference in the end.”
How to follow the race
Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift 2024 will benefit from a live broadcast of 2 hours and 25 minutes, from 3:15 PM. Fans from all around the world will be able to follow the race, with TV coverage in 190 countries. And everyone can tune on the Race Center and the event’s social media to be as close as possible to the action, from the very first pedal strokes at 13:35 in Denain.
