Throughout the build-up to Paris-Roubaix 2026, we’ll be answering common, quirky and unexpected questions about the Queen of the Classics – not the headline debates such as who’ll conquer the cobbles this year, but the juicy nuggets and details that make this incredible race unlike any other.
In this latest instalment, we ponder the fundamental point, why is Paris-Roubaix raced on cobbles?
Good question.
Back in 1896, when the first Paris-Roubaix was run, many roads were cobbled, so cobbles were the usual surface over which cyclists raced. Tyres were wider and bikes had slacker angles, a longer wheelbase and were heavier, so they were better adapted to riding on cobbled roads.
Over the intervening 130 years, the advent of the motor car has seen tarmac increasingly replace cobbles as the road surface of choice, so the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix and the other early Spring Classics hark back to an earlier period of cycle racing.
As with the more recent trend to insert gravel sections in road races, racing on cobbles tests the riders’ bike-handling skills on trickier surfaces and rings the changes over the often newly laid and pristine asphalt that is typically raced on.
Road cycling likes its history, so it loves a race such as Paris-Roubaix that recalls an earlier period and the heroes who raced and won then.
Modern road racing is highly tactical, with teams sheltering their leaders, who often save their efforts for the final climb or sprint. But cobbled races, and Paris-Roubaix in particular, are much more anarchic and may draw out heroic solo performances from star riders.
The chaos of Paris-Roubaix can result in unexpected winners and losers, adding excitement to the racing.
Although the most recent editions have been dominated by Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar, previously thought of more as a grand tour racer, came close last year in his first attempt.
And while the top classics riders often win, that’s interspersed with wins from less fancied riders such as Dylan van Baarle in 2022, Sonny Colbrelli the year before, and before that Matthew Hayman in 2016 and domestique Johan Vansummeren in 2011.
