Ruban Jaune

The name is thought to have come from comparison with the Blue Riband accolade awarded to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in record time.

The suspension of professional cycling during World War II meant Rossi’s record stood for ten years until April 4, 1948, when Rik Van Steenbergen won Paris–Roubaix with an average speed of 43.6 km/h.

It contained two riders from the Flandria team and three from Weils-Groene-Leeuw and they worked together to keep a high speed with the race decided in a sprint.

[4] On October 10, 2010 Óscar Freire broke the record yet again in Paris–Tours, taking advantage of a favourable wind over a new shortened course of 233 km, he covered the distance in 4 hours 52 mins 54 seconds at an average speed of 47.7 km/h.

[5] Two Italian riders then took the title at further editions of Paris–Tours: Marco Marcato in 2012 and Matteo Trentin in 2015, with an average speed of 49.6 km/h (30.8 mph).

Philippe Gilbert is the current holder of the honour, after winning stage 17 of the 2019 Vuelta a España at an average speed of 50.6 km/h (31.4 mph).