The famous cobblestone road through the forest of Saint-Amand-Wallers, in France.
Together they account for over 50 kilometers of the total distance.
Trouee d’Arenberg is one of the most brutal sectors.
When hit at high speeds, it can buckle wheels and toss riders off the seat.
Cyclists on the Trouee d’Arenberg.
Photo:gdela/Shutterstock.com
A view of the Trouee d’Arenberg from the bridge.
You cant focus and your pupils just seem to go off in all directions.
And a slap in other places too.
At least the ludicrous novelty of riding on a surface this ridiculous means it flies by.
Boredom never factors on a Roubaix sector.
Finishing a sector is like coming up for air.
The juddering vibrations cause hands, thighs and mind to feel as if theyve been liquefied.
They all swirl around for a time until your senses return.
The heavens of tarmac between sector hells give your addled brain and stunned body a chance to regroup.
The contrast is such that you could be on a hovercraft.
In 1998, three-time winner Johan Museeuw crashed heavily in the Trouee d’Arenberg shattering his knee.
Then in 2001, Philippe Gaumont broke his femur on the Arenberg.
He spent a month and a half in bed, unable to move.
Riding over the cobbles require special bikes.
Most riders prefer heavy-duty models to sleek-framed ones, with fatter tires and even different gears.
To reduce vibration, many riders wouldwrap their wristsand then their handlebars.
Strategy also plays a critical role.
Photo:Radu Razvan/Shutterstock.com
Close-up of the road surface.
When the Paris-Roubaix first began in 1896, there was nothing else but cobbled roads in France.
So a race over pave was all but natural.
If ParisRoubaix came their way, they felt they were shamed because we were exposing their bad roads.
They went out and surfaced them…
So organizers started looking for old tracks and abandoned roads too unimportant to show up on maps.
One of the many cobblestone sections cyclists have to endure in ParisRoubaix.
Photo:Radu Razvan/Shutterstock.com
One of the many cobblestone sections cyclists have to endure in ParisRoubaix.
Stablinsk didnt even had to search.
He had lived and worked in Nord for all his life.
He was born just north of Arenberg and later lived in Valenciennes, just to the south.
Trouee d’Arenberg had since been a decisive part of the race.
Race organizers rate each section of cobblestones on a scale of one to five stars, based on difficulty.
Trouee dArenberg is one of just three sections to earn the feared five-star designation.
A memorial to Stablinski now stands at one end of the road.
Stablinsk had worked in this mine for several years.
Not many people know it but an underground roadway runs directly below the Tranchee.
I am the only man to have walked under and raced over the cobbles of Arenberg,Stablinski boasted.
Even the trophy is a cobblestone.
Photo: Francois Lo Presti
Cyclists on the cobblestone road from Cysoing to Bourghelles during Paris-Roubaix 2019.
