December 10, 2007
Paris-Roubaix, A Journey Through Hell
by Nelson Hansen
Slightly over twenty years ago I found interest in an oddball European sport called professional cycling. North American media was starting to follow the escapades of the first wave of American cyclists looking to make their mark in the pro-peleton. As part of an effort to bring the Tour de France to North American TV sets, CBS Sports Spectacular gave many North American viewers a glimpse of the one-day Spring Classics races where riders prepared their bodies for the major tours later in the year.
I can recall seeing my first ever Paris Roubaix on CBS Sports Spectacular 1984. There I followed the pursuits of Greg Lemond, Sean Kelly and eventual winner Marc Madiot as they battled each other, the elements and sections of muddy bread loaf sized cobblestones built to transport Napoleons army centuries before. Madiot's win was epic but it was the sidebar story of Dutch domestique Theo De Rooy that hooked me. Finding his way into an early break, the Panasonic (remember them?) rider gave his all to be the first to the Roubaix velodrome until eventually his luck ran out amidst a series of flats and crashes. Exhausted, chilled to the bone and demoralized, DeRooy gave an unforgettable roadside interview before climbing into a spectator's car to be whisked off to a warm shower. De Rooy complained about the inhumane conditions of the race, of the treacherous cobblestones and of being worked by his team bosses "like an animal".
When asked if he would ever return De Rooy paused, smiled and responded with "Of course, it's the most beautiful race in the world."
At that moment I was hooked and Paris-Roubaix would become my New Year's Day.
Raced since 1896, Paris-Roubaix has earned her title of the "Queen of the Classics" and it is said that no rider can claim to have a successful career without conquering the cobbles and being the first to arrive in the northern mining town of Roubaix.
Velo Press has just released a stunning ode to the history of cycling's greatest one day race in the elegant coffee table book Paris-Roubaix A Journey Through Hell. Written by Philippe Bouvet, Pierre Callewaert, Jean-Luc Catellier and Serge Laget the book tells the stories not only of the "hard men" who have triumphed over the race's elements, but of those who gave their all on the pavé. And of those who so love the race that they would fight to keep it alive. Illustrated with dozens of stunning color and black and white photographs that date back to the inaugural event in 1896 when riders rolled off the line at 5:30am to tackle the treacherous 279 kms. German Josef Fischer won the inaugural race on that day by a stunning 26 minutes. While the race has been run in over 100 editions, yet as technology advances one thing remains constant. The men who finish it from 1896 to today have had to navigate the same treacherous roads and weather and they have all arrived in Roubaix equally exhausted.
For the uninitiated, Paris-Roubaix is unlike any other bicycle race on earth. The Spring Classics campaign invades northern France, Belgium and Holland as winter loosens its grip on the continent. The races are run in areas where the crosswinds can rip the peleton to shreds. The cold of early April can leave a rider's fingers numb on the bars. But it is the cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix that sets this race apart from all others. Counting down from Sector 26 to Sector 1 and totaling just over 50km of riding, the cobbles not only sets this race apart from all others. They also separate the contenders from the pretenders. On a warm and dry day, the dust from the cobbled sectors can obscure a rider's vision and choke his breathing passages. When it rains, the cobblestones become slimy with mud and cow manure. Crashes are inevitable and have nearly ended the careers of winners like Andre Tchmil and Johan Museeuw. In fact Ireland's Sean Kelly, a two-time Paris-Roubaix champion has left part of his ear on one of the cobbled sections after it was sliced in half by a chainring when Kelly fell on a particularly muddy section.
It is on the cobblestones of northern France where tough men have etched their names in cycling's pantheon of true champions. The book tells of daring escapades over ancient roads. Escapades like that of Roubaix resident Charles Crupelandt who not only won the race in 1912 and 1914, Crupelandt finished every Paris-Roubaix that he lined up to start. We learn of the tenacity of multiple winners like Gilbert Duclois Lasalle, Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx and 4 time champion Roger De Vlaeminck whose record still stands today.
It is not only the champions who arrive first in the Roubaix velodrome that make Paris-Roubaix so unique. It is also the people who love the race and fight for it's future that give the race it's charm. In the book we learn of the residents of Northern France who help to preserve the endangered sectors of cobbles and who help uncover new stretches of pavé to present to race directors. We learn that at one point there were less than 30km of cobblestones and that Paris-Roubaix was something of an embarrassment to residents of Northern France, a throwback to the region's days as a tough mining area. Today residents take pride in the history of the race and celebrate it every year as Paris-Roubaix has been resurrected from a relic to a piece of national history and a source of pride.
While the stories of the riders, of the race and of the people who fight for it are compelling, it is the stunning photographs in Paris-Roubaix, A Journey Through Hell that makes this book so stunning. A pictorial history not only of the race but of the sport through the ages graces the pages of this remarkable book. Both monochrome and color image quality are nothing short of perfection and shot selections are absolutely riveting. We see riders in triumph, riders in agony. We see riders coursing through history on safety bikes and on modern carbon fiber machines. We are witness to men trying to conquer the formidable beast that is the Hell of the North, frozen in time through the ages.
Perhaps the most stunning example of the photography in this delightful book is that of a full-page picture of Belgian champ and eventual winner eric Vanderaarden (page 81). Flying off the front in an unsuccessful late race breakaway, Vanderaarden bears the look of a rider who has battled a Paris-Roubaix for the ages. Crusted in mud, his hands frozen and barely clinging to the bars, the Belgian fights to blow the mud and snot from his nose so that he can open his breathing passages. But it is his eyes that tell the story of that day. Glazed and bloodshot they tell the tale of a young champ digging into the last of his reserves in an effort to steal glory on the day. The race demands nothing less of her champions. We see those same eyes on the riders in countless pages throughout the book. The same eyes looking for the same finish line at the end of the same cobblestones that riders have braved since 1896.
Paris-Roubaix, a Journey Through Hell is a must for any cycling fan. Its stunning coffee table layout and spectacular photography will earn its place as one of the greatest cycling books of all time.
Paris-Roubaix, A Journey Through Hell is published by Velo Press.
Posted by bikergrl at December 10, 2007 07:51 AM