Paris-Roubaix shows the new women’s luxury problem of the peloton

Ellen van Dijk is so happy that she forgets to brake. She almost knocks over her teammates Elisa Longo Borghini and Lucinda Brand – the Italian just manages to jump aside. Then the three women grab each other firmly in the central area of ​​the Vélodrome André Pétrieux in Roubaix for a close group hug.

It was already clear in advance that Trek-Segafredo had the strongest team on paper, on Saturday the six riders from the American stable showed in the second edition of Paris-Roubaix for women that it was not reality on paper. The team was at the front throughout the race. Flat tires for Van Dijk and world champion Elisa Balsamo – who was later disqualified for being pulled by the team manager’s car – had no effect on morale. At the end of the afternoon Longo Borghini (first) and Brand (third) were next to each other on the podium, Van Dijk was seventh.

The peloton had set out from a sun-drenched Denain earlier that afternoon. In the parking lot next to the start it looked like there was a Saturday market going on. What was not allowed for a long time due to corona, was now possible again: riders, team leaders, spectators, mechanics and press were mixed around the team buses. Acquaintances said hello, bicycles were admired up close, the most famous riders handed out autographs.

It had only been six months since the women had been here, but this time the circumstances were completely different. No rain and mud, but sun and dust. “Actually, it’s like we’re riding this race again for the first time,” said Van Dijk before the start. She has bad memories of the first, soaking wet edition: she fell so hard on the cobblestones that she suffered a serious concussion. She said she found her return to the unpaved northern French roads “very exciting”. “I’m getting excited about it now, but it took a long time.”

Just before that, it had been announced that the race would start without one of the biggest contenders. While the Jumbo-Visma team bus turned into the parking lot, the message appeared on social media that leader Marianne Vos was not on the bus. Corona. She had been sent home by the team management after two positive self-tests, even though she had no complaints. “She will not be allowed to cycle for the first three or four days. After that, we will screen her completely before she can start training again,” said sports director Esra Tromp, deeply disappointed. Because of the risks of further infections, the team did not take any risks.

For Vos, her corona infection was extra sour because she had specifically focused on this match. She missed last week’s Amstel Gold Race, a race she won last year. “It is a spring in which beautiful races are on the calendar one week after the other. In recent years, more and more major races with very nice history have been added. Then it is quite a puzzle sometimes to make a nice schedule, because it is difficult to be good everywhere,” said Vos earlier this week.

luxury problem

Choosing between races is a new luxury problem for the women’s peloton. “It is becoming increasingly difficult to determine which race you give priority,” says Trek-Segafredo sports director Ina Teutenberg. “Until two years ago we didn’t have Paris-Roubaix and that weekend was a natural break between all the spring races. Now we don’t have that anymore. I see that as a luxury.” It makes her role as team leader more important, says Teutenberg. “But because we have a large team, there is more to choose from. That makes my job easier.”

Van Dijk calls it “just really beautiful” that there is a choice for women. “It is part of the development of cycling that you no longer see the same riders in the top 10 from March to October.”

Not everyone is equally happy with the full program. It presents a new problem for the peloton, says sports director Danny Stam of SD Worx. “The number of races is increasing, but the growth of good riders does not keep up.” He points to the three teams that choose to start with five instead of the allowed six riders. “And then this is one of the biggest competitions of the year. Teams have too few riders to appear at the start at the same level everywhere.”

Stam argues for a standstill. He thinks every team should have at least 15 good riders, and there aren’t any right now. “If we stabilize, then talents can see that they can earn a living with cycling, especially now that in many competitions the pay is equalized with the men. They have to decide to turn pro, because we need that increase.”

One of his riders, Chantal Blaak, says that he actually likes all those races in succession. She has raced every weekend since February 26, only after Strade Bianche, at the beginning of March, she did not get on for a week. “I started a little slower than in other years because we have a really full program. But I find it easier to be good for a period of time. You can train well before and after.”

Ellen van Dijk has also been racing every weekend this season since February, for a different reason. “I would find it mentally difficult to focus everything on one race, then it should also work that race.” They took exactly that gamble at Jumbo-Visma, and it turned out wrong. “We had worked hard for Paris-Roubaix, but our plan did not work,” says sports director Decroix. She still says she is behind her decision not to send Vos to the Amstel Gold Race.

Driving your own lines

Without Vos, and also without the pregnant Elizabeth Deignan, last year’s winner, the race towards Roubaix opens early. Positioning is perhaps more important than driving over the cobblestones themselves and things are going fast for the first of seventeen cobblestone sections. Van Dijk is already five kilometers before the first stretch in front of the pack to be able to ride her own lines on the cobblestones.

A leading group of three is formed when Lotte Kopecky, the Belgian winner of the Tour of Flanders, stands on the pedals. They stay away for a while, but are taken back about thirty kilometers before the finish. That’s the time for Longo Borghini to jump away. “I wanted to make sure that Lucinda was in a good position behind me,” she recalls afterwards. Now the breadth of the team pays off: Brand can spare himself, the rest can try to get the Italian back.

It does not work. Longo Borghini enters the cycling stadium in Roubaix solo, cheered by the crowd. As she begins her second and final lap on the track, the pursuers drive in. Behind the Italian sprint Kopecky, ahead of Brand, to second place.

After the finish, the riders are suffocating. In the middle area they drop onto the grass. A caretaker of the Jumbo Visma team wipes the dust from the faces of his riders with a washcloth. With a line of sand on her chin, Blaak, who has become eighth, speaks to the press. “Last year I was disappointed, but this year I am less so,” she says. “Everything went according to plan, but Longo Borghini managed to get away. She and her team were just too strong.”

The Italian winner also skipped the Amstel Gold Race last week. “Of course you have to be a bit lucky, but it is no coincidence that we are winning here for the second year in a row,” says Van Dijk, her nose brown from the dust. “We have so many options, we are the strongest in breadth.”