PREVIEW INFO WITH ONE DAY TO GO

April 11 ^th 2026 - 18:03

The sixth edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes Hauts-de-France will see the world’s best classics specialists gather again in Denain on Sunday. Three previous winners, defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Team Visma - Lease a Bike), 2024 winner Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx – Protime) and 2023 winner Alison Jackson (St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93), are all on the start list, ready for battle in the ‘Hell of the North’. 

In addition to the previous winners there is strength in depth on the start list, with Team SD Worx - Protime's Lorena Wiebes (third last year), FDJ United - SUEZ rider Elise Chabbey (a five-time finisher and twice in the top 10), Lidl - Trek's Elisa Balsamo (second in 2024) and Team Visma - Lease a Bike's Marianne Vos (second in 2021 and fourth in the last two editions) all vying for glory.

The neutralised start will be given at 2.35pm on Sunday, with this year’s race taking place on the same day as the men’s race. The 20 cobbled sections to be covered over the updated 143.1 km course are expected to be dry on the day after some rain on Saturday. Fans can follow the Paris-Roubaix Femmes Hauts-de-France in full on the official event website and live on television from 5pm.

MORE (DRY) COBBLESTONES FOR EVEN MORE ACTION
The riders and teams who have been closely watching the weather forecast this week may have been reassured by the latest updates. “The rain that was expected on Sunday has shifted to Saturday,” explains Franck Perque, Race Director of Paris-Roubaix Femmes Hauts-de-France, describing the expected conditions for the sixth women’s edition of the Hell of the North: “There may be a few drops of rain on Sunday, but the wind will dry the cobblestones. Conditions should be ideal, with dry cobbles, slightly drier air, and a pace that should be fast. The wind will be head-on until Solesmes, where we’ll begin heading back with a tailwind on the cobbled sections.”

The challenge for the riders increases over an updated parcours this year, with 33.7 km of the 143.1-km route being covered on 20 sectors of cobblestones. This compares with the route of the last two years’ editions - which were identical in 2025 and 2024 - covering 17 ‘pave’ sectors, totaling 29.2 km of cobblestones over a 148.5 km course. “We used to do circuit laps around Denain,” explains Perque. “This year, we head south to increase the distance on cobbles, which now appear earlier in the race. Among the new additions is the Haveluy sector, which will be a very important moment. Riders will need to be extremely alert, with perfect positioning, before continuing into Hornaing and Sars-et-Rosières… By the time they reach Beuvry-la-Forêt at km 75, a lot will already have happened.”

FORMER WINNERS CHASE THE DOUBLE: “EMBRACE THE CHAOS”
With 2021 winner Elizabeth Deignan now retired and 2022 winner Elisa Longo Borghini absent due to illness, there are three riders in Sunday’s race looking to make history by becoming the first double-winners at the Hell of the North. In addition to defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Team Visma - Lease a Bike) and 2024 winner Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx – Protime), the rider who took victory in 2023, Alison Jackson (St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93), explains why no one has been able to register a repeat win over the cobbles in any previous edition. “Five years, five winners, five scenarios. You never know what to expect at Roubaix and that’s what makes this race so fascinating. Every sector is different. You have to stay fully alert at all times and adapt to every factor,” says the experienced Canadian champion. On specifically what makes it so hard to achieve a repeat success in the Queen of the Classics, Jackson adds “To perform here, you have to embrace the chaos. There is a lot that can break apart a race that is out of your control. Everything has to come together on the day itself. The legs, the equipment, the race conditions and a bit of luck as well.” On her ambition to become the first rider to win Paris-Roubaix Femmes twice, she concludes, “I hope it is me! I’m convinced I can win again - and why not! We have done the recon, the work is done, all that is left is the race. I'm ready to roll with the punches.”

STRONG TEAMS BEHIND FERRAND-PREVOT AND KOPECKY
Whilst Alison Jackson has moved teams since her 2023 win with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB (as the team was called then), Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Team Visma - Lease a Bike) and Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx – Protime) both remain in the teams they were with in the years of their previous Roubaix triumphs. For Visma Sports Director Jan Boven he is confident of Ferrand-Prevot – or her co-leader Marianne Vos – delivering another win for the team in the Roubaix Velodrome. “I think we can expect a lot,” states Boven. “I mean, Pauline was second last week in the Tour of Flanders. Also the feeling on the cobbles again and the feeling in the race, she was really happy. She was hungry for more. So now we have Marianne and Pauline here, two really nice leaders.” On the team’s tactics for the race, Boven said with a smile, “A bit the same plan (as in 2025), but maybe swap the leader and the winner! That would be nice for Marianne, but it's not in our hands only.” Kopecky and her teammate Lorena Wiebes (who was third last year but starts Sunday’s race after crashing out at Tour of Flanders) will aim to outshine their Visma rivals, with SD Worx – Protime Sports Director  Christian Kos previewing the Hell of the North stating, “We have multiple cards to play often. Lorena had a big crash last week, so we have to see how she feels, being in the race again. We have Lotte as the main leader tomorrow, so feeling good, going well. Next to Lotte we also have Blanka Vas who is really handy on the bike and on some spectacular days, she can even be a rider going for the win. Then Femke Markus also that has been close in the past (twice in the top 20 previously). So overall we have a really strong team here.”

CHABBEY & KOCH… FDJ UNITED–SUEZ “HAVE A PLAN A AND A PLAN B”
Amongst the strongest teams in the peloton, FDJ United–Suez have never yet experienced the thrill of a podium finish at Paris-Roubaix Femmes. A small anomaly that the French squad is determined to correct this Sunday, one week after Demi Vollering’s triumph in the Tour of Flanders. “This is the kind of race that writes the history of our sport, the kind of race that makes us get up every morning to work hard,” enthuses the team’s general manager, Stephen Delcourt. “When you come off a Tour of Flanders like that, you arrive with a lot of ambition. As always, we show up to each race with the strongest possible team.”

“We always have a Plan A and a Plan B,” Delcourt continues, first mentioning Franziska Koch (seventh in Roubaix in 2021) and Elise Chabbey (fourth in 2022, seventh in 2025), both of whom were decisive in Vollering’s victory a week ago. The Swiss rider also impressed by winning Strade Bianche, ahead of Kasia Niewiadoma and Koch, who finished third in Siena. On the cobbles of the Hell of the North they will be joined by French prodigy Celia Gery for her first participation, along with three other riders who have already raced Roubaix: Amber Kraak (fifth in 2024), Vittoria Guazzini, and Jade Wiel. “I know there are teams for whom Paris-Roubaix is intimidating, but our riders are extremely well prepared,” Delcourt said with satisfaction. 

RISING BRITISH YOUNGSTERS CHASING VELODROME GLORY   
Two of British cycling’s most talented youngsters, Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon//Sram zondacrypto) and Cat Ferguson (Movistar Team) are on the start list, with the potential to beat their compatriot Pfeiffer Georgi’s record as the youngest rider to step on the podium of Paris-Roubaix Femmes Hauts-de-France (third in 2024, at 23 years old). The Bäckstedt family name is eternally linked to the heritage of L'Enfer du Nord courtesy of Zoe’s father Magnus, who won the race in 2004, that victory being the highlight of his career. Could Magnus’ daughter add to the family’s cycling prestige with another famous win on Sunday? The 21 year-old already notably has three Paris-Roubaix Femmes finishes to her name and comes into the race after impressively finishing in the top five at both Dwars door Vlaanderen and Tour of Flanders. Meanwhile, Movistar’s Ferguson did not finish last year’s race, as her first participation ended with a crash on the cobbles following a collision with a spectator. But she has been catching the eye with several strong results so far this season, including fourth at Omloop Nieuwsblad, sixth at Dwars door Vlaanderen and top 20 finishes at Milan-Sanremo and Tour of Flanders. The prodigious 19 year-old could be a contender to step onto the podium in the revered Roubaix Velodrome. “I definitely feel super ready and excited to race Paris-Roubaix,” states the teenager. “We have put lots of effort in with the team to be absolutely ready for the Hell of the North’s cobbles, with lots of recons and testing with tyre pressures, so it’s definitely an all-consuming race where you get into every detail. It’s a race with endless possibilities and outcomes that I think makes it one of the most exciting on the calendar.”