Paris Roubaix 2025 full course

Paris - Roubaix 2025: Course

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Sunday, April 13 - The course of Paris-Roubaix has been almost the same for years. Why would the builders change anything? Spectacle is assured on the brutal route, which this time is 259.2 kilometers long. All thirty cobblestone sections are located in the last 162 kilometers.

The riders clip into their pedals in Compiègne and pedal about 100 kilometers through the Northern French fields. Then the cobblestone riding begins with the first of the thirty sections. It is Troisvilles to Inchy, 2,200 meters long and worthy of 3 stars.

As every year, the organization juggles a bit with the first cobblestone sections. Now the sections of Saint-Python and Famars, as well as that of Vercain-Maugré to Quérénaing, return, while the section from Quérénaing to Artres is taken the other way (and it was shorter last year). But the biggest change is the approach to the Forest of Wallers. Where there was a rather artificial chicane last year, the solution is to temper the speed in a more logical manner.

In any case, Paris-Roubaix always really starts to pick up steam towards the Forest of Wallers. The 2,400-meter long and completely straight section in a descending line is notorious for crashes and flat tires. If you're just behind there, you're in for a chase. Positioning is therefore important when entering the Forest.

Upon leaving the Trouée d’Arenberg, as the Forest is officially called, there are still 95 kilometers to go. In that stretch, eighteen sections are present, roughly every 6 kilometers it’s on again.

As they approach Mons-en-Pévèle, the tension gauge turns deep red. About 50 kilometers from the finish, the pilots tackle the beloved yet dreaded section. It is the combination of the length of 3,000 meters and the poor state of the cobbles that guarantees spectacle.

Just eleven sections for the wheels after Mons-en-Pévèle. The next 30 kilometers, the riders bump over Mérignies to Avelin (700 meters), Pont-Thibault to Ennevelin (1,400 meters), Templeuve - L’Epinette (200 meters), Templeuve-Moulin-de-Vertain (500 meters), Cysoing to Bourghelles (1,300 meters), Bourghelles to Wannehain (1,100 meters), and Camphin-en-Pévèle (1,800 meters).

Hardly 1 kilometer after Camphin-en-Pévèle, the assault on the riders' bodies continues with the Carrefour de l’Arbre. The 2,085-meter section is feared for its sloping curves and the horrifyingly poor surface. For the cobblestone specialists, it's the last chance to make a difference on their beloved terrain. Once the riders turn onto the asphalt at café Auberge de l’Arbre, there are only three sections left, Gruson, Willems to Hem, and the show section in Roubaix; none of which are particularly challenging.

In the last three editions, it was orange at the Roubaix cycling arena. Dylan van Baarle crowned a solo from Camphin-en-Pévèle in 2022, with still roughly 20 kilometers to go, and the following year Mathieu van der Poel left from Carrefour de l’Arbre, one cobblestone section later. Last year he did not want to wait that long and said goodbye to the rest of the field already 60 kilometers from the finish and soloed to his second consecutive victory.

Octave Lapize and Francesco Moser are so far the only riders to have won the Hell of the North three years in a row. Lapize did that in 1909, 1910, and 1911; Moser in 1978, 1979, and 1980.