Hell of the North
Hell of the North
The professional peloton moves from the cobbled climbs of Flanders to the iconic pavé of northern France next Sunday for Paris-Roubaix.
The 113th Hell of the North will see the peloton’s hardmen regroup after Sunday’s enthralling Ronde to take on the Queen of the Classics, bidding for supremacy in the Roubaix velodrome.
Runner-up on Sunday, last year’s winner Niki Terpstra (Etixx-QuickStep) heads the list of contenders for a race which also marks the end of Sir Bradley Wiggins’ Team Sky career.
Flanders winner Alexander Kristoff, meanwhile, will be bidding to add a third Monument to a palmares which already included last year’s Milan-San Remo before his Flanders success on Sunday.
No less than 27 cobbled secteurs stand between the 200 riders set for the Compiègne-Clairoix startline and the Roubaix Velodrome, including the iconic Arenberg Forest.
So who can we expect to see raising their arms on Sunday afternoon? We have rounded up the leading candidates over the following pages.