The queen of the classics,; Paris-Roubaix 2016, will take place this Sunday. For the 114th edition of the race, the organisor chose to keep a similar route as the 2015 race route (which was identical to the 2013 race route) when the race was won by John Degenkolb, but there's one modification: the cobble stones section number 22, Verchain-Maugré, has been turned in for the Capelle-Ruesnes section which is partially uphill at the "Hameau du Buat". Situated in the first part of the cobble stones programme, this change shouldn't have a real impact on the result of the race.

In the Hell of the North all small things can however come disturb the race for one of the riders or maybe the contrary, help another one. So, nothing's sure beforehand: Sunday everything will be decided on the cobbles ...

The 27 cobble stones sections of Paris-Roubaix 2016

With an almost identical race route as in 2015, the cobble stones sections are also (almost) the same as well, except for section 22. The difficulty evaluations awarded to these cobble stones sections after the visit by the organisor this Monday have been announced in a press release which could almost be qualified as pompous because these evaluations are exactly identical to those of 2015! The only thing which changed a bit is the position of the sections after number 24 in the race, for about 4 kilometers, following the detour to access the section 22 at the "Hameau du Buat" which makes its comeback after 3 years of absence.

Apart from that no changes, even though we can mention that some partial renovations of some cobble stones sections took place, organised by the Communauté de communes du Pays de Pévèle: the sections of Bersée (km 203.5), of Mons-en-Pévèle (km 209) and of Bourghelles (km 231).

#	location	length	km	evaluation
27	Troisvilles	2.200 m	98,5	+++
26	Viesly	1.800 m	105	+++
25	Quiévy	3.700 m	107,5	++++
24	Saint-Python	1.500 m	112,5	++
23	Vertain	2.300 m	120,5	+++
22	Capelle-Ruesnes	1.700 m	127	+++
21	Quérénaing à Maing	2.500 m	137,5	+++
20	Monchaux-sur-Écaillon	1.600 m	141	+++
19	Haveluy	2.500 m	154	++++
18	Trouée d'Arenberg	2.400 m	162	+++++
17	Wallers à Hélesmes, dit "Pont Gibus"	1.600 m	168	+++
16	Hornaing	3.700 m	175	++++
15	Warlaing à Brillon	2.400 m	182,5	+++
14	Tilloy à Sars-et-Rosières	2.400 m	186	++++
13	Beuvry-la-Forêt à Orchies	1.400 m	192,5	+++
12	Orchies	1.700 m	197,5	+++
11	Auchy-lez-Orchies à Bersée	2.700 m	203,5	++++
10	Mons-en-Pévèle	3.000 m	209	+++++
9	Mérignies à Avelin	700 m	215	++
8	Pont-Thibaut	1.400 m	218	+++
7	Templeuve (Moulin-de-Vertain)	500 m	224,5	++
6	Cysoing à Bourghelles	1.300 m	231	+++
6	Bourghelles à Wannehain	1.100 m	233,5	+++
5	Camphin-en-Pévèle	1.800 m	238	++++
4	Carrefour de l'Arbre	2.100 m	240,5	+++++
3	Gruson	1.100 m	243	++
2	Hem	1.400 m	249,5	++
1	Charles Crupelandt, Roubaix	300 m	256,5	+
total		52.8

The total cobble stones distance moved up from 52.7 to 52.8 kilometers due to the change of section 22.

The Paris-Roubaix 2016 race route on Google Maps

The start in Compiègne at the Place du Général de Gaulle will be, according to the time- and route schedule, at 10.40AM. In fact, it will be somewhere between 10.30AM (in case of bad weather) and 10.50AM (in case of perfect weather), depending on the weather conditions and the precise time will be decided on Saturday following the directeurs sportifs meeting. Initially, the start was planned at 10.20AM, but in order to prevent the race from having a similar problem to what happened last year at the train crossing close to the Trouée d'Arenberg, it has thus been moved up 20 minutes later with a margin of 10 minutes in both direction, depending on the weather. A nice try following the agreement between A.S.O. and the SNCF (the French railway company), even though Thierry Gouvenou indicated in the Ouest France newspaper that when we try to start changing the timing in order to be sure that the train will not disturb the race at the trouée d'Arenberg, we are much less sure for the railway crossing at 10 kilometers from the finish. For that one, it's more like a Nostradamus prediction than science ...

After the start, the riders will follow in Compiègne the Rue du Dahomey, the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, the Rue Solférino, the Rue de Clermont and the Rue de Noyon. The kilometer zero will be in Clairoix on the D932. The riders will follow, via Ham and Saint-Quentin, the usual race route to get to the first cobble stones section from Troisville to Inchy. The cobble stones sections will be almost uniterrupted until Monchaux-sur-Ecaillon before a short road only part of the race route via Thiant and Denain before a new cobble stones sections part starting in Haveluy.
In total the riders will do no less than 52.8 kilometers of cobble stones and they can get some forces in the feeding zones in Solesmes and in Beuvry-la-Forêt. The finish will, as usual, be at the Vélodrome in Roubaix after a complete lap on the track.

Hereunder you'll find the time- and route schedule and the race route on Google Maps for Paris-Roubaix 2016:

You can use this map to plan your visit of Paris-Roubaix 2016 in detail. No excuses that you don't have enough information based on what the organisor provides on its website!

The Paris-Roubaix 2016 race route in Google Earth

Do you prefer to see the Paris-Roubaix 2016 race route in Google Earth? Or would you like to do a virtual fly-over of Paris-Roubaix 2016 as if you were riding on the cobbles yourself? Download to the KML file below to do so and open it in Google Earth:
>> Download the Paris-Roubaix 2016 race route in Google Earth


Don't forget that you can use the Streetview function to take an even closer look! Numerous cobble stones sections have been visited by the Google car and can thus be "visited" directly from Google Earth! If the car didn't dare to go on a cobble stones section, you can still see the start and the end of the section in most cases ...

The 25 teams starting in Paris-Roubaix 2016

25 teams will come to the start of Paris-Roubaix 2016: first of all, since it's a UCI WorldTour race, the 18 UCI ProTeams will be there: AG2R La Mondiale, Astana Pro Team, BMC Racing Team, Cannondale Pro Cycling Team, Etixx-QuickStep, FDJ, IAM Cycling, Lampre-Merida, Lotto-Soudal, Movistar Team, Orica-GreenEDGE, Team Dimension Data, Team Giant-Alpecin, Team Katusha, Team Lotto NL-Jumbo, Team Sky, Tinkoff and Trek-Segafredo.

The 7 other teams will be Bora-Argon 18, Cofidis solutions crédits, Delko Marseille Provence KTM, Direct Energie, Fortuneo-Vital Concept, Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise, UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team and Wanty-Groupe Gobert.

For the first time in the history of Paris-Roubaix, the race will be broadcasted from the start till the finish!

door Thomas Vergouwen
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