The ‘Hell of the North’ hits the cobbles of Northern France on Sunday, our L’enfer du Nord expert, Ed Hood, runs his eye over the uneven surface of Paris-Roubaix. The course and runners for 2015 and the history of the Queen of the Classics. Sunday in Hell – The PEZ Preview. Sure, there are older races – Paris Roubaix was first held in 1896 when Josef Fischer of Germany won but Liege-Bastogne-Liege (La Doyenne and the fourth Monument) predates that by four years. There are longer races; its a mere 257 kilometres from the Paris satellite of Compiegne to the Roubaix velodrome; Milan-Sanremo adds 40 kilometres to that. And there are hillier races; the aforementioned Liege-Bastogne-Liege has 10 classified climbs and hardly one hundred metres of flat road – whilst the Tour of Lombardy (the fifth and final Monument) includes bona fide mountain passes in its parcours. Paris-Roubaix remains steadfastly pan flat.But theres no other race like Paris-Roubaix; organisers in Denmark, England, Brittany and even the USA seek to imitate it but thats not possible. Its not possible because its not Northern France in April and there havent been 112 previous editions. This race is unique, and can justly be referred to as legendary in a world where the word is routinely abused.The Ijzertoren and the men of the ‘Hell of the North’The Hell of the North tag comes from the war ravaged countryside which the parcours traversed during the years after The Great War. If youre in Flanders on...
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