Queen of the Monuments

Paris–Roubaix 2026 — Carrefour de l'Arbre

30Sectors 50 kmPavé 49 km/hAverage

The last 5-star sector before the finish. Hours of quiet, two minutes of race. Fans, pavé, dust, Pogacar and van Aert. An atmospheric race report from inside the Hell of the North.

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Carrefour de l'Arbre

The last 5-star sector before the finish.

The fans have been lining the road for hours already. The air smells of BBQ and beer. Here and there you catch an old radio carrying the race commentary.

Entrance to the Carrefour de l'Arbre — the last 5-star cobble sector before the finish

Tour-Funk · Dutch

Original recording from the roadside · 0:16

It's interrupted by the whistles of the Gendarmerie every time a vehicle crosses the sector. The closer the cars get, the more the ground trembles under you. Once they pass, you hear it all again: the conversations at the roadside, the race commentary, the smartphone speakers blaring the live stream. Some celebrate, some lie in the sun, some even play poker. And someone is always taking a leak in the potato field.

Spectators playing poker at the roadside while waiting for the race

A group gathered around a single smartphone, watching the live stream

Spectators relieving themselves in the potato field beside the course

An older man holding up an original L'Equipe newspaper from 1991 by the course

Close-up of a French flag rippling in the wind at the roadside

Wide-angle view of the pavé with riders on the Carrefour de l'Arbre

The Dust Cloud

Two helicopters tracking the race from above

From the live stream on everyone's phone, you know the race is about to come by. Lift your eyes from the screen and eventually you see it — the dust cloud, trailed by three helicopters. They keep coming closer, and the roar of the spectators rolls toward you like a wave.

The escort motorbikes scream past. The ground shakes, the air vibrates, your eardrums on the edge of splitting. And then, amid all the chaos of fans and machines: Pogacar and Wout van Aert. For a fraction of a second, you see them — before the dust swallows them again.

A single helicopter hovering above the race

Tadej Pogacar and Wout van Aert leading the race on the Carrefour de l'Arbre

Behind them come the fallen of the battle — the dropped, the defeated.

Visibly spent, they drag themselves across the cobbles.

Mikkel Bjerg nearing the end of his strength

Close-up of an NSN rider — dust, sweat, focus

In the Hell of the North, just reaching the finish is a victory.

The Cobblestones

They want to break the bike and the rider.

They were laid over a hundred years ago with one purpose in mind: heavy farm machinery moving between fields. They were never meant for fragile race bikes on narrow tyres at 49 km/h.

Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek grinding over the pavé

Decades of pressure have sunk the edges of the pavé, so the crown of the road sits noticeably higher. That's the racing line, where the risk of damage is lowest. The alternative is the grass seam right at the edge — but that's where the fans stand, and riders have gone down there many times before, tangled in their flags.

100+ years old 49 km/h Racing line: crown No escape

There is no escape. Everyone has to feel the stones.

The Fans

Right at the edge of the road. Just a few centimetres and a slack rope separate them from the riders. They wait, they cheer, they celebrate. Nothing would stop them from stepping into the race. And yet no one does.

This race — l'Enfer du Nord — is the hardest of the Monuments. And so monumental is the fans' respect for those who push their luck and risk everything to be the first into the Vélodrome.

A man wearing an old Tour de France cap at the roadside

Portrait of a man wearing an old-fashioned helmet — a classic race fan

An older man reading a copy of L'Equipe at the roadside

Vintage L'Equipe newspapers with original signatures from Roubaix legends

Portrait of the collector with his archive of historic newspapers

Visma rider on the pavé, with a burning bengal flare glowing in the background

Velodrome

The fastest Roubaix ever ridden.

270 km, 30 sectors, a total of 50 km of pavé. An average of 49 km/h.

At the finish, there are two. Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogacar, the reigning world champion, roll into the last 600 metres of the Vélodrome side by side. Wout sits in Tadej's slipstream. With 250 metres to go, both kick at the same time. Wout van Aert's jump is stronger than Pogacar's, and he immediately opens up a two-bike-length gap. The crowd roars, hands on heads. After 17 seconds of sprinting, Wout van Aert points to the sky — and crosses the line first, riding in memory of his late teammate Michael Goolaerts.

Everybody has a story to tell. Today it was my chance to tell mine.

— Wout van Aert, after crossing the line

The finish is deeply emotional. Everyone — really, everyone — wanted Wout van Aert to win this one. He cries the moment he crosses the line. He embraces his teammates, his children, his wife and his parents.

In Roubaix, every rider goes through hell — and today, one of them honoured someone in heaven.

Chaos at the roadside: fans, a team car, and a helicopter all caught in a single frame

Paris–Roubaix — you either love it or you hate it.

Tadej Pogacar and Wout van Aert on the Carrefour de l'Arbre — the moment that stays

The relentlessness of the pavé, and the absurdity of racing road bikes over it, are exactly what make this race the Queen of the Monuments.

For me, it's simple: I love this race.

Once again, it has shown that cycling is more than just a sport. At least to me.

Thanks to Van Rysel for making it possible for me to be there with you.