The weather for Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix race is uncertain but if riders make it to the finish then a shower is guaranteed. Indeed Paris-Roubaix must be the only race where the washing facilities make up part of the legend.
The showers inside the velodrome are as much a part of the ritual as is the photo of the winner lifting the cobbled trophy in the air. Do other sports treat the showers or locker room with the same reverence?
This post isn’t so much about cycling but the wider area around this Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix race. As you’ll see below, the “Hell of the North” title is not about cobbles but the state of the region.
Apologies if I upset anyone but Roubaix and the surrounding places are grim. Tourist rarely visit and the French have negative myths about the place. Even the cycling is not great, despite the famous race. You’re better heading across the border into Belgium for the bergs. Today the region thrives as transport hub but it is rarely a final destination.
What’s so bad? The effects of wars past are still visible, from cratered landscapes to fields of white crosses in mass graveyards. More recently the whole region has struggled, faced with vanishing industries and entrenched social problems. It’s a tough place with a tough race. But the good news is that it’s finally getting back on its feet, at least cosmetically.
The photo above is from Vélo magazine and I used it to illustrate a piece about Bradley Wiggins’s shrinking frame size. For all the talk of losing weight, he’s also got much lower on his bike.
Last week’s look at the history of Paris-Nice proved a popular read and the photo of Bernard Hinault taking a swing was a talking point in the comments.
Like all images it captures a moment on camera but it was only one instant in the day and there’s a whole story behind the picture. And video footage too.
Paris-Nice starts this Sunday and you’ll find a race preview with a permanent link at the top of the page.
But first a look back because this is a race of innovation. Over the years it has welcomed exotic teams, transported riders by air and invented new race rules. Through the race’s history we can trace the evolution of the sport we know today. With other races in trouble today, Paris-Nice can perhaps provide some tips for success.
The GP Plouay sits on the World Tour calendar of top races. Held every year in August in the town of Plouay in the Brittany region of France, last year’s edition was won by Grega Bole. It is the sort of race the needs an introduction like this because many are not aware of it or its details. The other one day race in France on the World Tour is Paris-Roubaix and that needs no explanation.
The GP Plouay is struggling. Last year’s edition was subsidised by the UCI to help make ends meet. The region is a hotbed of French cycling, packed with holidaymakers at the time and it was Thomas Voeckler’s first official race since the Tour de France. But it didn’t get a great audience and the race often comes down to a bunch sprint. The organisers have been thinking of new ways to liven up the race and they give us a clue as to the future of racing.
I’ll let the picture do most of the talking. Look at the star rider of amateur team TEAG Team Köstritzer, the one given the seat in the middle and holding the bike. It’s André Greipel.
With the 2012 season under way all the top teams have unveiled their colours. Amongst these team colours are the national champions jerseys. Just as the world champion wears a jersey with the “rainbow bands”, national champions get their special jerseys.
The winner of the annual national championships gets to wear a jersey that represents their country for the year. It’s usually a variation of the national flag or colours. For example you’ll see the French champion in a big blue, white and red tricolore jersey. But in recent years the design has started to change, moving away from a flag turned into a jersey into a more normal team jersey with just hint of national colour. Here’s a more detailed look at the how and why.
Read up on the history of the sport and larger than life characters appear. You don’t just have names, you have nicknames. The “Cannibal”, the “Eagle of Toledo”, the “Butcher of Sens“. Bernard Hinault scared, Mario Cipollini wowed. Nowadays pro cycling just doesn’t seem to have these references and personalities. Today the “The Butcher of Irun” is the man who supposedly supplied contaminated meat to Alberto Contador, not a charismatic racer.
“The Competition Bicycle, a photographic history” is the full title of Jan Heine’s book and this is what the book is all about. It features 34 bikes from the earliest race bikes to modern era machines and there are extensive studio photographs of each machine.
The bike is the star in this book. You might have seen black and white images of Fausto Coppi on his Bianchi or faded colour images of Eddy Merckx on his orange bike in the 1970s but now you can see these bikes in full colour. Each bike gets several pages of photographs with some text to explain history and context of the bike. For example Merckx’s orange frame is labelled “Eddy Merckx” but is actually a De Rosa. The author has taken care to find the authentic machine.