Paris–Roubaix [pa.ʁi.ʁu.bɛ] is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium.

[7] Vienne and Perez held several meetings on the track, one including the first appearance in France by the American sprinter Major Taylor, and then looked for further ideas.

The following morning Breyer — later deputy organiser of the Tour de France and a leading official of the Union Cycliste Internationale – continued by bike.

Those who dropped out before the race began included Henri Desgrange, a prominent track rider who went on to organize the Tour de France.

The starters did include Maurice Garin, who went on to win Desgrange's first Tour and was the local hope in Roubaix because he and two brothers had opened a cycle shop in the boulevard de Paris the previous year.

[19]The race usually leaves riders caked in mud and grit, from the cobbled roads and rutted tracks of northern France's former coal-mining region.

Trees which had begun to look forward to spring became instead blackened, ragged stumps, their twisted branches pushed to the sky like the crippled arms of a dying man.

It began at the same time in Paris–Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, when widespread improvements to roads after the second world war brought realisation that the character of both races were changing.

[23]The coming of live television prompted mayors along the route to surface their cobbled roads for fear the rest of France would see them as backward and not invested in the region.

Albert Bouvet, the organiser, said: "If things don't change, we'll soon be calling it Paris–Valenciennes", reference to a flat race on good roads that often ends in a mass sprint.

The Amis supply the sand and other material and the repairs are made as training by students from horticulture schools at Dunkirk, Lomme, Raismes and Douai.

[23]The strategic places where earlier races could be won or lost include Doullens Hill, Arras, Carvin and the Wattignies bend.

It is the highest of all the cobbles at 136 m.[34][35] A 2.5 km sector named after Bernard Hinault, the 1981 winner, which also features frequently in the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque race.

Officially 'La Drève des Boules d'Herin', the 2400m of cobbles were laid in the time of Napoleon I through the Raismes Forest-Saint-Amand-Wallers, close to Wallers and Valenciennes.

In 2005 the Trouée d'Arenberg was left out, organisers saying conditions had deteriorated beyond safety limits as abandoned mines had caused sections to subside.

[48] The shower room inside the velodrome is distinctive for the open, three-sided, low-walled concrete stalls, each with a brass plaque to commemorate a winner.

[50] When I stand in the showers in Roubaix, I actually start the preparation for next year.A commemorative plaque at 37 avenue Gustave Delory honours Émile Masson Jr., the last to win there.

[55][56] Canadian rider Steve Bauer had a frame built by Eddy Merckx Bicycles with extremely slack angles, to the extent of being semi-recumbent.

The sprockets were steel rather than alloy and the steerer column was cut 5 mm higher than usual to raise the handlebars if needed before the start.

Second placed rider Gaston Rebry was awarded the victory once officials discovered that Lapébie's bike was missing a race sticker.

Mahé was declared winner but a few minutes later other riders arrived using the correct route and Serse Coppi, brother of famous Fausto, won the sprint for what was assumed to be the minor placings.

The peloton of stayaways has grown to the point where Paris–Roubaix is now only for a tight group of specialists... especially the Belgians, capable of maintaining high speed on the cobbles.

It was on a section of cobblestones outside Roubaix that Thomas Wegmüller (SUI) and Dirk Demol (BEL) broke away from the lead group to try for the victory.

Demol could have attacked at this moment and won the race with ease, but it was clear he did not want to win in this manner and drafted behind Wegmüller as he got assistance from his team car to remove the bag.

Sean Kelly, also part of the chase group containing the top riders in the world, crashed late in the race, after it was already decided the breakaway would not be caught and crossed the finish line with blood covering his face.

In 2006 Leif Hoste, Peter Van Petegem and Vladimir Gusev were disqualified for riding through a closed railway level crossing 10 km before the finish and just ahead of an approaching freight train.

But glory is not without a price.These bloodied and battered warriors struggle through the rain, the cold, the mud, on roads better suited to oxen cart than bicycles.

No, these are members of the "Amis de Paris Roubaix", trying to clean off the mud and crusted earth left on the cobbles by farm work.

They are on an important section of Paris–Roubaix and, without their intervention, the greatest of cycling classics, due to be held in only a few days, will not be able to come through... And without these cobbled routes, the Paris–Roubaix would disappear, depriving the whole world of one of sport's most intense and gripping events.

These discreet servants of the "Queen of the Classics" have only one ambition — to clean the stones so that when the day comes for the champion to be crowned they can hold their cobbled trophy high.