- Sep 26, 2020
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After five years ASO has now decided to return to their initial idea of holding the men's and women's PR on the same day. Following the first edition of PRF, we have been treated to around 80 km of live coverage, but this year it's uncertain how much we'll be getting since it will depend on the speed of both elite races. The schedule says the broadcast will start at 5 o'clock CEST, but the first live pictures could come both sooner or later than that. It means we don't know for certain whether the riders will have passed through Mons-en-Pévèle before then.
However, there is a silver lining: The date change has finally resulted in a removal of the stupid laps around Denain!
Instead of riding south to Montrécourt and then southwest to Saint-Aubert before heading back north to Denain, the course will now bring the riders to Saint-Aubert first. This altered stretch includes two new two star cobbled secteurs; Solesmes à Haussy (800m) and Saulzoir à Verchain-Maugré (1200m).
But those are not the only changes. The major revelation is the inclusion of Haveluy à Wallers (****, 2500m). Now at this point we don't know what this means for the future routes, but at least we are getting geographically closer to seeing the Trouée d'Arenberg in a women's race for the first time since the 2008 Grande Boucle Féminine.
The 2025 edition saw Pauline Ferrand-Prévot catch up with Emma Norsgaard Bjerg before eventually dropping her on Camphin-en-Pévèle and continuing solo for the last 19 km to the velodrome in Roubaix, while her teammate Marianne Vos disrupted the chase behind. A popular win for the home crowd.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU5QOIicuLI
This successful partnership will be put to the test once again on Sunday. PFP looked to be in decent shape in De Ronde, but with Vos having had to skip to last few races due to her father's illness and eventual death, her shape is a question mark, though you'd expect her to want to honour her father's long support of cycling and her in career particular by crossing the line first. However, with the recent ban of the Gravaa tyre inflation system in mind perhaps Visma isn't actually going to be the team to beat this year. Time will tell.
Start list:
However, there is a silver lining: The date change has finally resulted in a removal of the stupid laps around Denain!
Instead of riding south to Montrécourt and then southwest to Saint-Aubert before heading back north to Denain, the course will now bring the riders to Saint-Aubert first. This altered stretch includes two new two star cobbled secteurs; Solesmes à Haussy (800m) and Saulzoir à Verchain-Maugré (1200m).
But those are not the only changes. The major revelation is the inclusion of Haveluy à Wallers (****, 2500m). Now at this point we don't know what this means for the future routes, but at least we are getting geographically closer to seeing the Trouée d'Arenberg in a women's race for the first time since the 2008 Grande Boucle Féminine.
The 2025 edition saw Pauline Ferrand-Prévot catch up with Emma Norsgaard Bjerg before eventually dropping her on Camphin-en-Pévèle and continuing solo for the last 19 km to the velodrome in Roubaix, while her teammate Marianne Vos disrupted the chase behind. A popular win for the home crowd.
This successful partnership will be put to the test once again on Sunday. PFP looked to be in decent shape in De Ronde, but with Vos having had to skip to last few races due to her father's illness and eventual death, her shape is a question mark, though you'd expect her to want to honour her father's long support of cycling and her in career particular by crossing the line first. However, with the recent ban of the Gravaa tyre inflation system in mind perhaps Visma isn't actually going to be the team to beat this year. Time will tell.
Start list:
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