Van Rysel × Gruppetto Hamburg — Paris–Roubaix 2026

Van Rysel × Gruppetto Hamburg · Paris–Roubaix 2026

4Days 170 kmGravel Ride 30Sectors 1Monument

Four days in northern France. From Oudenaarde over the Kwaremont to Lille. To the Van Rysel headquarters, across all 30 pavé sectors — and on Sunday to the Carrefour de l'Arbre.

My job: documenting the weekend for the Gruppetto Hamburg. The full story is live in the Instagram story highlights at @gruppetto.hamburg.

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Departure to Flanders

Thursday, 4:30 AM.

The alarm rings. The flight leaves in two hours. Destination: Oudenaarde, Belgium. The heart of the Tour of Flanders.

Before we get on the bikes, a quick stop at the Tour of Flanders Museum. Old jerseys, old bikes, old helmets — all preserved. You learn how the monument came to be.

Wall of dozens of historic cycling jerseys at the Tour of Flanders Museum

Six framed historic jerseys from Saxo Bank, C&A, Mapei, Bora, Jumbo-Visma mounted on a yellow wall

Historic exhibit inside the Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen

Chairback signed 'Remco Evenepoel' in black marker

From there it's on the bike over the Kwaremont, the Paterberg, the Koppenberg and the Carrefour de l'Arbre — to Lille, to the hotel.

Why Lille? In Flemish, the city is called „Rijsel". Sound familiar? „Van Rysel" translates to „from Rijsel" — so, „from Lille". And that's exactly where, in Lille, the headquarters of the bike brand that invited us for the weekend is located.

Van Rysel. From Rijsel. From Lille.

From there it's just a stone's throw to the Paris–Roubaix route. To the monument of all monuments.

The Hills of Flanders

Kwaremont. Paterberg. Koppenberg.

Thursday afternoon. A long ride over the hills of Flanders. Parts over 20 % — on cobblestones.

To survive this at the Tour of Flanders, you have to punch it so hard you start seeing double.

Five Gruppetto riders rolling away on a Flemish country road

The jersey drop: the new Road Captains jersey. This year exclusive to the team — next year available to everyone.

Someone holding up the new purple-black Road Captains jersey by Gruppetto × Van Rysel above a yellow table

Reaction to the jersey drop: four laughing faces around the café table under the yellow Van Rysel umbrella in Lille

Rider in the purple Gruppetto × Van Rysel jersey — detail portrait

Two Road Captains in the new jersey, in front of a brick wall

Two Road Captains in the new jersey, smiling at the camera

After the hills of Flanders we got a short recovery on flat, paved road — before we hit the sectors.

The pavé in Roubaix is indescribably hard. No TV image, no photo in the world does justice to how brutal these stretches are. Your whole body vibrates, gets shaken so hard that at the end of a sector you don't even know what hurts the most.

Rider in the Gruppetto jersey on a Flemish road

And yet there's a sadistic kind of fun in flying over them at full speed, eyes shut tight.

Hands and feet still tingling, long after we're back at the hotel.

Evening mood after the ride, Flemish landscape

Hotel evening in Lille after the ride over the hills

The Hell of the North has already left its first marks.

B'Twin Village

The Headquarters.

Van Rysel arch with a Skoda team car on cobblestones at the HQ entrance

Friday. We're at B'Twin Village — Decathlon Van Rysel's HQ for everything bicycle.

Exclusive looks at next year's prototypes. Nothing we can publish. But one thing can be said: next year's going to be damn fast.

Inside the B'Twin Village — Decathlon / Van Rysel headquarters

Fatigue test lab with components under stress testing

The HQ is so ridiculously huge that staff get kick scooters to move between buildings.

Besides the prototypes, we got to see the fatigue test lab, where components are put through their paces. That's bitterly necessary if the gear is going to survive the pavé.

In the afternoon, a short recon ride. Then coffee and cookies at the Van Rysel pop-up café at sector 8, Moulin.

Two Van Rysel gravel bikes leaning on a metal barrier with a DÉPART sign at sector Moulin

One last taste of pavé.

Tomorrow we ride it ourselves. 170 kilometres. All 30 sectors.

170 Kilometres

170 km. 30 sectors.

Saturday. This cobblestone is unforgiving. I had 45-mm tyres on my gravel bike. And even on those, I got completely rattled — my elbows went swollen and purple just from the vibrations.

At kilometre 90, stomach cramps forced me to let the others go. I shortened the second half and skipped a few sectors.

Close-up of cobblestones in black and white

The Arenberg, though — that one we took.

How anyone rides this at 50 km/h is beyond me. The sector was so packed with people we could only do 20 km/h. Even at that speed the shaking was so violent you thought the bike was about to break under you.

All of us made it out without mechanicals. Only Phil dropped his chain — twice. Clipping back in on that sector and building up speed again is near impossible.

Atmosphere along the pavé route during the Saturday ride

After I let them ride on, I met them again three hours later at the Vélodrome.

All five were marked by the day. Their faces covered in dust. Their hands blistered, their legs cramping.

Five Gruppetto riders posing at the Roubaix Vélodrome with medals after the 170-kilometre ride

But: every one of them was grinning.

Saturday evening, Lille. First beers after the ride.

Konstantin in a pink cap drinking beer at a bar in Lille after the 170-km ride

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

Sunday

Sunday. Race day.

On Sunday, we went to the course. We took our spot at the Carrefour de l'Arbre — the last 5-star sector before the finish.

Glued to three phones, we tried to follow the race. The signal kept dropping. Reception was barely there.

Vintage L'Equipe newspapers with original signatures from Roubaix legends at the roadside

Jan Ullrich Ultras flag in German colours against a blue sky

Over time, thousands of people gathered at the roadside. An hour before the race, you couldn't find a free spot where we stood.

An endless chain of people. Between them, the hardest cobblestones in the world.

Chaos at the Carrefour de l'Arbre: spectators, team car and helicopter in a single frame

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

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

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

Rider in the dust at the Carrefour de l'Arbre

Scene from the Paris-Roubaix 2026 race at the Carrefour de l'Arbre

What happened next — the race itself — I wrote up separately.

→ Continue reading

Queen of the Monuments

Paris–Roubaix 2026 · jasperkorthfotografie.de/roubaix/en/

Closing

The pavé left its mark on us.

The riders who take on this race deserve our deepest respect.

Not a single kilometre is handed to you here. Every metre has to be earned.

Everyone goes through hell. And the winners arrive in paradise.

Thanks to Van Rysel — for making this weekend possible. It's not a given.

And thanks to Gruppetto Hamburg. Great days with you. Being trusted with this job means a lot to me.