It wins the best on condition that it is not any Carneade … tomorrow there is the Roubaix that, without bothering a lot of (too much) rhetoric, is the Roubaix, one of the most beautiful cycling challenges as always as the other monuments, as well as the turning tuppets and the tour, as well as a world championship, an Olympiad … and then it wins the best between Tadej Pogacar, Wout Van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Mads Pedersen Our Pippo Ganna. And the others? Others certainly go good luck because those who arrive first at the velodrome deserve all respect for the world and never arrive by chance. But do you want to put? The great races become unforgettable if the great champions win them, otherwise they tend to get lost in the memory of the years. It applies to all and all the more so for Roubaix. “Carneade, who was he?” He wondered in the Promessi Sposi Don Abbondio ignoring who the Greek philosopher was … Hope and that this does not happen tomorrow when it will be the winner of the 122nd edition
The stones count. 25o, almost 260 kilometers and 600 meters of stones and asphalt, from Compiègne, to the north-north-east of Paris, at the Roubaix velodrome. One stone after the other, he whispered, often wet, that is, donkey back, that is, taller and disconnected in the middle to slide on the sides and disappear at the edges where you can often pedal but not always, because between the public and barn the space is not there and the risk of hooking to something or someone is too high. One stone after another, more distant than close, sometimes with the grass in the middle that makes everything even more complicated that if you make a mistake to put a wheel and you end up in the middle you don’t get out anymore, the bike is gripped, it goes where it wants and you no longer need to try to cling to the levers of the brakes, because the hands tremble, the arms as well and every gesture, even the simplest like stopping, becomes useless.
Who made it explains that to stay in balance, In order not to go crazy, in order not to fall you have to have the courage to go strong, you have to pull on the pedals instead of pushing because the bike tends to get up as if it were an hydrofoil and you have to be lucky enough not to pierce. Parts, pedals, mandatory hands and bikes on some sections of pavè and hope not to fall and not to pierce. Six four -star sectors of difficulty, fourteen with three stars, five to two stars and only one to one star practically a catwalk before entering the velodrome. Names that are now history: the Arenberg forest, Mons-en-Pévèle, The Carrefour de l’Arbre. Finished the sector of Champin en Pévèle, turn right and after about fifteen kilometers you get there Roubaix. End of the torment and the beginning of glory.
Inside, outside or in front in the first fifties at the entrance of the arenberg or goodbye dreams of glory. It almost always goes like this and it will go like this this year too. Woe to fall here. Tadej Pogacar in the forest has already passed us twice from Juniores and in recent months he tried and tried again before deciding to participate that in his case it is an understatement because it is obvious that tomorrow will be here to win. Wout Van Aert, a couple of days ago in reconnaissance with the team made the cold sweaters come to his DS for a skid that risked making him plan and removing him from the games even before starting. Ganna and Pedersen have tried and tried again as Mathieu Van der Poel who, however, in the last few days, has not been seen in these parts because hit by a flu syndrome that has kept it still: “Now she is well but not very well” have made it known from Alpecin. In the Arenberg forest they all come to understand that stuff is even if they already know it. And then they come to remember what these stones are to get well in the head that you cannot get distracted here, that you may not want but you get lost here, that perhaps it is always better to recommend the soul to the Lord …
However it goes from complies to the velodrome is an elimination challenge. Few remain. There are those who have a “bestial” physique, better if powerful, preferably, pretty, preferably a little heavy and the story of those who have won in these parts. Anyone who wins becomes a man of Roubaix. One of the many but unique. Special. Because that of Roubaix heroes is the most exclusive circle in the world. An enclave that goes beyond time. Enough once. Two are many, besides it becomes myth. And we are there in the middle. Needless to make names who love this sport knows, know, remember. All that of the Roubaix must be told has already been written. Kilometers of battles, immense joys, terrible disappointments. Of falls, pain and tears. All that of Roubaix remains is its history written in dust or mud, on the stones that have created the myth of a race where everything seems exaggerated, perhaps even a little rhetorical epic.
There is a billboard that makes a fine show on a parabolic of the velodrome Where it is written that “Northern hell brings you to paradise” and it is really so, because it is enough to go there once in the Arenberg forest, to Mons en pevele, in the Carrefour de l’Arbre to understand what this race that stopped time really is. Past and future. Cycling has this extraordinary ability to keep everything together, to mix what has been and that will be, to leave on the road or on the concrete of a track pieces of history available to everyone. Just go. Just enter and take them, enjoy them. So you arrive in Roubaix, approach the velodrome, recognize the roads, relive all the companies you followed on TV, then carried out right and end up straight in the myth of an eternal sport. Here, contrary to what happens to us, you do not need to book, you do not have to enroll in any company, to any federation, you do not pay and there are no modules to be completed, sign, sign. You just enter, free. In fact, it is and full of guys who have fun. It works like this from the parts of the “insults” French cousins. But it’s just envy: they are right …