[UCI World Tour] Paris-Roubaix 2018

Paris-Roubaix

Also running: Bahrain Grand Prix 2018

How it works

Predict who is going to win the race; that's all. :)

Entries close when the race starts (Sunday morning).

Race Preview

Welcome to the Hell of the North! A race where luck plays a big role as the cobbled sectors always cause a lot of crashes and equipment failures. The best riders still win here often but sometimes you get some unexpected winners. Ask Dirk Demol; his historic 222 km escape is the longest breakaway victory in Roubaix history.

It does take a special skill to ride the cobbles well and some great riders have never even competed here just cause they couldn't handle those dusty, bumpy, and sometimes wet, sectors.

From Wikipedia:

Theo de Rooij, a Dutchman, had been in a promising position to win the 1985 race but had then crashed, losing his chance of winning. Covered in mud, he offered his thoughts on the race to CBS' John Tesh after the race:

    “It's a bollocks, this race!” said de Rooij. “You're working like an animal, you don't have time to piss, you wet your pants. You're riding in mud like this, you're slipping ... it’s a pile of shit.”

When then asked if he would start the race again, de Rooij replied:

    “Sure, it's the most beautiful race in the world!”

Sites
Official Site
Wikipedia

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• We'll have to start with the Quick-Step wolfpack. Niki Terpstra could go for a historic double by winning this after his win in de Ronde van Vlaanderen last week. For Philippe Gilbert this is one of the two monuments missing from his palmarès so I wouldn't be surprised if his team will try and get him this win. It seems Zdenek Štybar can't get enough kilometres; he's riding in the Scheldeprijs today and will undoubtedly be at forefront on Sunday (last year he was second in Roubaix, beaten in the sprint by Greg Van Avermaet).
• Since we mentioned him... Can Greg Van Avermaet go for the repeat? His form hasn't been great of late as far as wins are concerned; he still usually finishes top ten. You might say he's back to his pre-2017 form; coming in second often and winning rarely.
• Is it possible for a rider of Peter Sagan's class to have a season without a big classics win? His former mountainbiking career should help him here.
• John Degenkolb won here before, is he still capable of a repeat?
• I'll mention Sep Vanmarcke again, will he ever remain the nearly-man? His teammate Sebastian Langeveld was third last year; maybe he has the better chance?
• Wout Van Aert did great again last Sunday; this cyclocross champion might surprise us all. He hasn't had any rest since Septemer or something so how much energy does he have left in the tank?
• Last year the race ended in a sprint and if that happens again, Matteo Trentin will want to be there.
• Team Sky is brining the expected duo Luke Rowe and Ian Stannard (who shouldn't have gotten disqualified last Sunday).
• Could Oliver Naesen compete here? So far he's been rather unlucky.

Giveaway

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