Wout van Aert and a host of other riders completed their final Paris-Roubaix reconnaissance ride under heavy rain and on wet, muddy and very slippery cobbles on Thursday. However, drier, more spring-like weather is forecast for the weekend, with the women’s Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift on Saturday and the men’s Paris-Roubaix on Sunday expected to be fast races.
The last rain-soaked edition of Paris-Roubaix was in 2021. Lizzie Diegnan attacked early to win the inaugural women’s race on a day of rain showers and only occasionally dry cobbles, while Sonny Colbrelli won the sprint in the Roubaix velodrome with his face and jersey covered in mud after an overnight downpour.
