ROUBAIX MAYHEM, SOLO MASTERCLASSES & DURBO FIRST QUIZ

The chaos of the Cobbled Classics is over for another season. From Omloop, through E3 and Wevelgem, Flanders, and then the big one – Paris-Roubaix; these are the biggest and best races on the calendar for me, so I was super excited to sit down with Tom Southam and Luke Durbridge to break down this year’s edition of Paris-Roubaix in this month’s Race Communiqué.

This year’s Roubaix was an absolute cracker; totally flat out from the gun. Even before Arenberg – where the race used to really kick off back in my day – the bunch was strung out and the real favourites were taking huge chunks out of each other. Tom, Luke, and I run through the riders that really made this race such an epic edition. Of course, it was dominated by Mathieu Van Der Poel on his way to his third victory in a row, but what about Pogačar?! His first go at Roubaix and he’s up there rubbing shoulders with the big boys, and I literally mean the big boys; he’s ten kilos lighter than most of these guys! Southam made a good point actually; is he going to be carrying some extra timber into the Ardennes that kick off next week?

Of course, we also had the women’s race the day before. That’s something I love about Roubaix; the men’s and women’s races being on different days means we get a whole weekend of Paris-Roubaix action! What a cool race, with absolute legend Pauline Ferrand-Prévot putting her immense off-road skills to use to become the first French rider to lift that big cobblestone since Frédéric Guesdon in 1997. I absolutely loved to see the GOAT herself; Marianne Vos, riding in support of her Visma LAB teammate; for me, that’s what makes her a true champion.

Obviously, there’s been other races going on aside from the cobbled classics. We wanted to talk briefly about the Tour of the Basque Country, and for good reason; after a few years in the wilderness, Caleb Ewan is winning at the highest level again. What a move that transfer to Ineos turned out to be! It’s so cool to see Caleb getting his hands in the air again, and I think it represents a real shift in mentality at Ineos – who have been looking a bit lost for a few seasons now. 

Southam was actually down in the Basque Country in the car for EF Pro Cycling – who knocked out a stage win with young Ben Healy – so he gives us a quick breakdown of the race in this week’s Talking Tactics. Healy’s win came after a ridiculous 57km solo move, so this month Tom’s talking about the art of the solo breakaway. We see these long-range attacks sticking more and more these days; with everyone aero optimised and more and more data and information being fed to riders. Southam compared his view from the car to being behind a rider in a TT, and being able to feed him really accurate cues about the course ahead played a huge part in Healy’s win. 

Poor old Durbo got a bit cut off in this month’s Pelo Chat, so we rolled it in ahead of the Communi-Quiz! Durbo wanted to talk about race programmes, and how the teams decide who’s racing where. Of course, the Spring Classics is a savage block of racing; and plenty of riders don’t make it all the way to the end owing to sickness or injury, which creates plenty of headaches for team directors trying to pull together squads at short notice. 

As always, we wrapped up with the Communi-Quiz. Hosted by Durbo, it’s a Roubaix-themed ‘Who Am I?’
“I’ve won a stage and the overall at the Tour of Beijing and Paris-Roubaix – who am I?” .....you’ll have to listen to this month’s Race Communiqué to find out.

Well, guys, that’s the Cobbled Classics done and dusted. The Ardennes are about to kick off to round out a monster Spring of racing, which can mean only one thing: the next time I sit down to talk to Southam and Durbo will be in May, just before the first Grandy of the year – The Giro d’Italia. 

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