Paris-Roubaix (Femmes et Hommes) 2026 ***Spoilers***

[andrew_s]

My TNT feed didn’t have any ads today. Anyone else find this?

Yep, was great (they had ads on the women’s race though)

On HBO Max there are generally two streams for a race, one with ads, and one without, but there's no indication of which is which.

If you guess wrong, just change to the other (rewind to just before the ads so you can take note of the time/distance to skip forwards to first).
Alternatively, I would usually watch either on catchup or on a delayed start, so I can check for ads on the mini-screenshots that show on the timeline, and swap immediately if I find any.

On the non-ads mens stream, there were 2 "back soon" screens that showed during the pre-race studio ad breaks, but nothing during the race.

 

[matticus]

27 pages. Is this a CC record?!?

But what a race ... where does one start ... !

 

[matticus]

A bit of armchair analysis for you all to rip apart:
When Pog was chasing back on (before the Arenberg trench) the commentary was stressing that it was crucial to get back before that key sector. I wasn't convinced ... Yes I know that secteur is chaos, but might it be better to hit it on the front of Group2, than in G1 with fussed legs?
Might have saved a lot of matches for Pog+teammates. Or landed him in the middle of G1 mayhem ...

(Incidentally; I did laugh at the chaos his blue-bike swap created for the group behind, two support vehicles blocking an uphill section of cobble )

p.s. I watched the Tiz Youtube version of the whole race after it had finished. Totally glitch-free/ad-free, and a pleasure to have Hutch/Rowsell et al instead of certain ... lesser commentators. (I'm going to gloss over the Scottish fella's constant doom-mongering. I hate to think how that guy would deal with success for a team-mate or family member - could he find a positive?!? Every other sentence starts with "Unfortunately ... )

 

[Pross]

On HBO Max there are generally two streams for a race, one with ads, and one without, but there's no indication of which is which.

If you guess wrong, just change to the other (rewind to just before the ads so you can take note of the time/distance to skip forwards to first).
Alternatively, I would usually watch either on catchup or on a delayed start, so I can check for ads on the mini-screenshots that show on the timeline, and swap immediately if I find any.

On the non-ads mens stream, there were 2 "back soon" screens that showed during the pre-race studio ad breaks, but nothing during the race.

I could only see one stream for the women. I also haven’t found an ad free version since the Tour last year, at least not for any bigger races.

 

[Dogtrousers]

When I watch the grand tours and see them riding up majestic mountains, I think "I'd love to go and do that". And in fact I have a couple of times gone and done it (at about a quarter of their pace). And the mountains are indeed majestic, it's hard but satisfying.

Somehow I don't get the same urge when I see them riding over the cobbles. Rather than a weary sense of satisfaction I suspect that all I'd get would be a sore arse and a broken bike.

 

[wakemalcolm]

When I watch the grand tours and see them riding up majestic mountains, I think "I'd love to go and do that". And in fact I have a couple of times gone and done it (at about a quarter of their pace). And the mountains are indeed majestic, it's hard but satisfying.

Somehow I don't get the same urge when I see them riding over the cobbles. Rather than a weary sense of satisfaction I suspect that all I'd get would be a sore arse and a broken bike.

Agree, I'd happily hang out in the Alps, bike or no bike. There's nothing much drawing me to the bright lights of Roubaix and the flatlands aren't for me even on a sunny day.

 

[gsk82]

Agree, I'd happily hang out in the Alps, bike or no bike. There's nothing much drawing me to the bright lights of Roubaix and the flatlands aren't for me even on a sunny day.

Me three. Flanders though is a great ride. It's no harder than a uk ride of the same distance.

 

[TakeTheHighRoad]

Here's a thought that's cropped up as I've rewatched.

Is Pog a little bit lacking tactically?

He relies on his superiority and about 80% of the time he wins alone

He beat Pidcock in a sprint at MSR that he easily could have lost and didn't try once to drop van Aert after Carrefour de l'Arbre.

I know they were chasing behind but they had 30 seconds to close with 10k to go, and Pog didn't even try and attack on the "hill" out of Hem

Just an attempt to analyse the race

 

[Blazing Saddles]

Blimey, an actual cycling article from the BBC that doesn’t mention the word drugs. It’s a lengthy read by their standards on The Hell of the North.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/articles/cx2vld6yl3no

 

[ColinJ]

Somehow I don't get the same urge when I see them riding over the cobbles. Rather than a weary sense of satisfaction I suspect that all I'd get would be a sore arse and a broken bike.

I used to live on a cobbled backstreet in Hebden Bridge. The 50-100 metres to get me to tarmac were more than enough for me!

 

[phreak]

Here's a thought that's cropped up as I've rewatched.

Is Pog a little bit lacking tactically?

He relies on his superiority and about 80% of the time he wins alone

He beat Pidcock in a sprint at MSR that he easily could have lost and didn't try once to drop van Aert after Carrefour de l'Arbre.

I know they were chasing behind but they had 30 seconds to close with 10k to go, and Pog didn't even try and attack on the "hill" out of Hem

Just an attempt to analyse the race

He also took his share of turns leading up to the velodrome, and I'm fairly sure then lead actually into the velodrome. Surely it's clear that WvA is the stronger sprinter, so he should be doing the work?

 

[gsk82]

He also took his share of turns leading up to the velodrome, and I'm fairly sure then lead actually into the velodrome. Surely it's clear that WvA is the stronger sprinter, so he should be doing the work?

Every time WVA went to the front i shouted at the tv. But he knows how he feels better than i do and won the sprint easily so it worked out. No one should ever work with Pogacar in a one day race.

 

[CarbonClem]

Me three. Flanders though is a great ride. It's no harder than a uk ride of the same distance.

Hard disagree. I did Flanders last year and was a bit complacent about the cobbles - they were pretty brutal. Hands and feet were pretty toasted in a way that no UK ride has ever done.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Every time WVA went to the front i shouted at the tv. But he knows how he feels better than i do and won the sprint easily so it worked out. No one should ever work with Pogacar in a one day race.

Stuyven finished just 13" behind them, so I think Wout would have been doing a little work to make sure the break didn't get too close. Yes, he's still better than Pog in a sprint if the break catch them, so Pog should me more worried, but 1-on-1 was what Wout wanted - and with enough time to do the sprint right (not have to ride to the line because of chasers)

 

[Dogtrousers]

Also Wout would have been aware that MvdP was in the chasing group. He hadn't been watching the telly so he probably wasn't fully appraised if what shape MvdP was in. It was certainly a case of "two's company"