It's been five years since the first edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes was held and marked a historical moment in professional cycling in 2021. Now celebrating its fifth edition, the peloton are set to compete in one of the biggest and most important one-day races in the sport, starting in Denain and finishing at the famed velodrome in Roubaix on Saturday, April 12.
It's been a thrilling Spring Classics season that has seen Lorena Wiebes capture victory at the revived Milan-San Remo and her SD Worx-Protime teammate and world champion Lotte Kopecky soar to her third win at the Tour of Flanders.
The pair will line up for the third Monument of the season - Paris-Roubaix Femmes - in prime form as the event's favourites, and undoubtedly a tough-to-beat duo, but there is no shortage of talent, strength, experience and skill among the women's peloton and they will face steep competition as they hunt for the cobblestone trophy.
Cyclingnews selects a handful of the riders to watch at the elite women's 148.5km race as they take on 17 sectors of pavé that includes two five-stars, Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l'Arbre, before its run-in to the velodrom in Roubaix.
Lotte Kopecky, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime)
Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes are experiencing among the best seasons of their respective careers during this Spring Classics season. Despite the changes to the team's roster this year, it does not seem to have affected SD Worx-Protime's penchant for teamwork and success across the board when it comes to varying terrain of the one-day races.
Wearing the jersey of the World Champion, Kopecky added another prestigious notch to her palmares with a historic third victory at the Tour of Flanders, and the question now turns to whether she can complete the Flanders-Roubaix double this week.
She has been close before, in 2022, when she triumphed in Oudenaarde only to finish second in Roubaix. Then, in 2023, she won Flanders again and finished seventh in Roubaix, and last year she was fifth at Flanders and went on to secure that iconic victory in Roubaix.
If you have noticed a theme here, it is that these are two very important races for Kopecky in what has been a truncated block of spring racing, where she only just started at Milan-San Remo and aimed to select a few target one-day races before turning her attention to the Tour de France later this summer.
After her dominant display at the Tour of Flanders last weekend, we can anticipate that this is her chosen week for peak performance, but Paris-Roubaix is always somewhat of a dice-toss and nearly equal measures of strength, skill and luck.
SD Worx-Protime arrive with another contender in Lorena Wiebes, who has also had a fantastic run of success with three back-to-back wins at Milan-San Remo, Brugge-De Panne and Gent-Wevelgem, and the pair have keyed off of one another in an impressive display of teamwork this year. Blanka Vas should also not be discounted as a possible contender, giving SD Worx-Protime a well-rounded team for the cobbles.
Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto)
Cyclocross and road racing talent Zoe Bäckstedt will lead Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto at this Paris-Roubaix. After a successful 'cross campaign this winter that saw her win the under-23 world title in Liévin, France, Bäckstedt gradually worked her way into the road season at a series of lower level one-day races.
But a recent 20th place at Dwars door Vlaanderen indicated that she heads into Paris-Roubaix in good form. Combined with her impeccable off-road skills, fine-tuned training for the cobbles of Roubaix, and support from her teammates like Chloé Dygert and Chiara Consonni, Bäckstedt has a good shot at top results in this race.
She competed twice in the Hell of the North and steadily progressed through each experience. She is only 20 and has also matured as an athlete a lot over a couple of seasons racing on the WorldTour, with consistent top-10 finishes, and she secured her first top-tier victory in a stage at the Simac Ladies Tour last year.
Cobblestone racing runs in the family, her father Magnus having won Paris-Roubaix in 2004, and her sister Elynor competing with rival team UAE Team ADQ, so watch for Zoe to make her mark across the pavé of Roubaix.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Visma-Lease a Bike line up with two potential winners for this Paris-Roubaix with Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Marianne Vos. They are two of the greatest cyclists of all time, between them sharing more world titles and racing experiences than any other in the peloton today.
They've competed together at Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and Tour of Flanders, and while they still seem to be fine-tuning their dynamics as teammates, which will take some time, they have had some podium performances: Ferrand-Prévot third at Strade and second at Flanders, while Vos took second at Milan-San Remo.
If they can figure out how to play off one another more effectively, either rider has the potential to bring home a Paris-Roubaix win for Visma-Lease a Bike.
There is no telling which one, if not both, make it to the velodrome to contest a win, but both riders are specialists in off-road; Ferrand-Prévot has secured world titles in mountain bike, cyclocross, and gravel racing, while Vos has also secured world titles in cyclocross and gravel racing. Neither should have any difficulties with the unruly pavé en route to Roubaix.
Vos will have more experience on this route, having finished second in 2021, 10th in 2023 and fourth last year. However, Ferrand-Prévot will undoubtedly be the fan favourite, adding a boost of confidence to her morale ahead of her big home Monument.
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck)
Ferrand-Prévot might be the crowd favourite, but we think Puck Pieterse is a close rival, especially when it comes to watching mountain bike-road specialists compete at Roubaix.
The reigning MTB cross-country World Champion is continually gaining ground on her more experienced rivals in the peloton every time she lines up to compete in the Spring Classics.
Once again, she has been one of the most consistent performers, so far, finishing fourth at Omloop and taking a pair of seventh places at Strade Bianche and Trofeo Alfredo Binda, delivering 10th at Milan-San Remo, fourth at Dwars door Vlaanderen and ninth at Tour of Flanders.
She is also one of the most active riders in the field, using her tactical strengths to figure out the best places to attack, and her off-road strengths and skills from cyclocross and mountain biking will make her a favourite over the Rouabix cobbles.
Elisa Balsamo, Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek)
Lidl-Trek have a strong duo in Elisa Balsamo and Ellen van Dijk, both offer strengths in different areas with Balsamo's speed and Van Dijk's steady pedalling over rough terrain, they could both be in the final at this Paris-Roubaix.
Balsamo has had a lot of success this season with wins at Setmana Valenciana in preparation for the Spring Classics, where she won Trofeo Alfredo Binda and stood on the podium at Brugge De Panne, Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen.
Opting out of the Tour of Flanders, Balsamo is surely eyeing to take a step higher on the podium than her second place at Paris-Roubaix last year, where she lost the sprint to Kopecky in the velodrome. That would have been a tough outcome for the Italian track racer if it weren't for the fact that Kopecky is also a velodrome specialist.
Van Dijk, sixth at Roubaix last year and seventh in 2022, has also impressed this early season and turned heads at Dwars door Vlaanderen, riding into the lead group and showing off her strong form across the cobbles and climbs on the edge of the Flemish Ardennes, and she went on to finish eighth at the Tour of Flanders.
These two riders complement one another and make a perfect duo for a race like Paris-Roubaix, so with effective teamwork, watch for them to surprise in Rouabix.
Cat Ferguson (Movistar)
In her first full season on the Women's WorldTour with Movistar, Cat Ferguson is making the most of the Spring Classics. She completed a strong cyclocross season, where she won a world title in the mixed team relay for Great Britain, before announcing that she would make her debut at the biggest one-day races in the sport.
Only 18 years old, Ferguson finished on the podium in third place at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and then 18th at Milan-San Remo, even after a crash on the descent of the Poggio took her out of the running for the victory.
She went on to compete at Brugge-De Panne and Gent-Wevelgem and was 19th at the Tour of Flanders. Paris-Roubaix will see the curtains close on her first foray in the cobbled Classics before she turns to the Ardennes.
Her strengths off-road will likely help her navigate the gruelling cobblestone sectors for which Paris-Roubaix is so well known, and she is clearly a powerful rider among her peers in the peloton. But there is likely no pressure on her to bring in a top result, yet, so we select Ferguson as a dark-horse contender for the Hell of the North.
Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal)
Kim Le Court is another rider who has had strong performances this spring with a third overall at the UAE Tour, ninth at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and fifth at Milan-San Remo and fifth at the Tour of Flanders.
The Mauritius Champion has already had success on the Grand Tours with a stage victory at the Giro d'Italia last year and multiple top-10 finishes at the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and other Spring Classics like Paris-Roubaix, where she finished 10th last year.
She made a big jump in the one-day races this year and will undoubtedly want to close out this block of the season with a podium performance at a Monument.
Victoire Berteau (Cofidis)
At Paris-Roubaix last year, Victoire Berteau managed her way through the well-known difficulties of the course and into the chase group behind the breakaway and had enough left in the tank to sprint, taking second behind Wiebes for eighth on the day.
Also, her home race, she will be among the French riders flying the flag for her nation at its biggest one-day race and while racing for the French team Cofidis.
At 24, Berteau has been steadily progressing at the Spring Classics, often among the top 10 or top 15 in the finals across a selection of races during the cobble Classics and mid-week semi-classics, and last year was her best season to date.
She may not have had the same run-up to Paris-Roubaix as she did last year, but she will have gained valuable experience from her performance last year on how to navigate the cobbles, speeds and tactics of the race, along with crashes and mechanics that make up one of the most unpredictable races on the calendar.
She may have been solely focussed on this event to close out her cobbled Classics season, so watch for her to be among the French riders in the final.
Amber Kraak and Elise Chabbey (FDJ-SUEZ)
Amber Kraak should not to be underestimated at Paris-Roubaix Femmes after her fifth-place performance last year, riding as part of the lead group of five that sprinted for the win inside the velodrome.
She will lead her FDJ-SUEZ team alongside a second contender in Elise Chabbey, and both are capable of riding into the final and even a top-10 in this year's edition. Chabbey was just outside the top-10, in 11th place, last year, but she was fourth in the 2022 edition and has shown her potential for the cobbles of Roubaix. Her recent seventh at Tour of Flanders also means she is in promising form.
Kraak, too, has shown form riding into the breakaway and chase group at Dwars door Vlaanderen, so watch for her to be among the front splits over the pavé.
Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic PostNL)
Pfeiffer Georgi will lead Picnic PostNL at this Paris-Roubaix, and while the team has yet to announce a full roster, she has already proven her ability across the pavé when she finished ninth in 2022, eighth in 2023 and third last year.
The British Champion has an upward trajectory this year like no other and so it should be no surprise if she lands on the podium again at Paris-Roubaix.
She hasn't had the best start to this season, with a somewhat mediocre Spring Classics run so far, but that could all change in a race like Paris-Roubaix where experience, skill and luck play a role.
She will have Charlotte Kool alongside her at the start line and a team that will be able to help with positioning into the crucial sectors of pavé, but ultimately, Georgi will then need to navigate how the rest of the race plays out on her own. Trusting in her skill and previous performances in this race will be key to making her way into the final before the race hits the velodrome in Roubaix.
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