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Paris - Roubaix 2024, one day monument, April 7

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Winner of PR?


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Very generous to call this a chicane, that's more like a narrow hairpin
That leg brace is pure MvDP CX territory.

Edit: ok, already mentioned. Came to my mind immediately watching Netserk's suggestion.

To me it spoils the race just as much as when they took Arenberg reverse.
The suspense passing the historic coal mills, the persuit arriving over the railway almost like an explosiveness with iconic images, a story being written along the route by the riders, with intermezzos and highlights as fixed points to look forward to.
And now being removed in favor of a leg brace which suits last Sunday's race much better.
For me, the photographic gaze of the riders at high speed across the cobblestones characterizes Paris-Roubaix to a great extent.
 
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Utter professionalism...

"People talked me about over the year"
"Speak with the riders I knew would race"
"Talked with DS of teams I couldn't reach in Flanders (one week before the event)"
"Tried to keep it a secret in order to few people know about it, which begs the question if ASO, probably one of the most relevant stakeholders, know anything about the proposed change until it became talked about in the media" - who knew what they could have done if they knew, imagine if they could come up with another solution that wasn't a Mulsanne chicane from aliexpress if were given the proper time to plan it.

Unfortunately Adam Hansen only knew that Arenberg would be raced in the past weeks, which prevented him from doing something in the months leading up to the event.

View: https://twitter.com/HansenAdam/status/1775601415798276236?t=nKoSqXCthSmIIgNGu3BIfg&s=19
 
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Utter professionalism...

"People talked me about over the year"
"Speak with the riders I knew would race"
"Talked with DS of teams I couldn't reach in Flanders (one week before the event)"
"Tried to keep it a secret in order to few people know about it, which begs the question if ASO, probably one of the most relevant stakeholders, know anything about the proposed change until it became talked about in the media" - who knew what they could have done if they knew, imagine if they could come up with another solution that wasn't a Mulsanne chicane from aliexpress if were given the proper time to plan it.

Unfortunately Adam Hansen only knew that Arenberg would be raced in the past weeks, which prevented him from doing something in the months leading up to the event.

View: https://twitter.com/HansenAdam/status/1775601415798276236?t=nKoSqXCthSmIIgNGu3BIfg&s=19
Hansen didn't know Van der Poel would like to race Roubaix??? What a liar
 
I really don't get the problem with that chicane. Sure, there could happen a crash there, but it would happen at very low speed. The chicane is not dangerous at all, however much of a bottleneck it might be.

The location of the railway track is not ideal, I get that.

Im still wondering where the car that appeared at warp speed disappeared to.

a low speed crash into a metal barrier is going to hurt plenty, plus we might also see crashes like we had at the Tour de France femmes a few years a go, a whole bunch of riders come to a complete stop it concertinas up and some charlie comes piling into the back of them all at full speed because they werent paying attention or braked in time.

it wont take a group of many riders, and only one unclipping or not getting their line right around it to cause mayhem there, they will be tired at this point, tired brains make poor decisions.

but I think the bigger issue is its concertinas up groups of riders going into Arenberg, and most crashes Ive seen on Arenberg have been because youve had too many riders fighting for the same space, its supposedly one of the reasons why they wont let the women ride it, because their route isnt selective enough to whittle a group of riders down to a safer level, they always been worried theyd turn up in too big a group, well now they are creating the conditions to absolutely ensure the men keep hitting it in bigger compressed groups.
 
Utter professionalism...

"People talked me about over the year"
"Speak with the riders I knew would race"
"Talked with DS of teams I couldn't reach in Flanders (one week before the event)"
"Tried to keep it a secret in order to few people know about it, which begs the question if ASO, probably one of the most relevant stakeholders, know anything about the proposed change until it became talked about in the media" - who knew what they could have done if they knew, imagine if they could come up with another solution that wasn't a Mulsanne chicane from aliexpress if were given the proper time to plan it.

Unfortunately Adam Hansen only knew that Arenberg would be raced in the past weeks, which prevented him from doing something in the months leading up to the event.

View: https://twitter.com/HansenAdam/status/1775601415798276236?t=nKoSqXCthSmIIgNGu3BIfg&s=19
In Adam Hansen' swords : The riders I couldn't reach out to, I spoke to their DSs when I was in Flanders and asked them to speak to their riders. Normally, we have channels to 1 rider in each team. I didn't use this communication because it only involved the riders at that race, and we wanted as little people to know about this until it's official with ASO
 
Speed should get reduced, entering the cobbles, the question is on who can survive getting through the chicane. As the way it looks its function is the one of the wall. That is you hit in it with high speed and hence you become slower.

The idea seems right, not sure about the execution. Likely it would make more sense to build some sort of artificial speed reduction barrier beforehand, then to use the only existing one that looks kind of scary in the sense of eliminating you to save you from the cobbles.
 
If safety if their main responsibility why isn’t the Arenberg removed all together? Every year someone gets hurt there
Meanwhile in Australia: 'hey lads, hear me out: The Adam 260. Like paris-roubaix, but in the interests of safety, its 260 laps around Roubaix velodrome. It's not butchering history because the race hasn't started in paris for decades now. It can start anywhere. Obviously we'll have to call the whole thing off if its overcast due to the possibility of rain...'
 
If safety if their main responsibility why isn’t the Arenberg removed all together? Every year someone gets hurt there
Because it's PR, a particular race for particular riders. Danger and suspense are the essence of "the Hell of the North". It just comes with the territory. The riders need to change, not the course. Arenberg has been entered at high speed for decades, but only now safety is the primary concern? I'd say this has to do with this generation, or guys like Hansen at any rate (but if he's in his position it's only indicative of a wider trend), and not the race. Sooner or later PR won't be held at all, if this keeps up.
 
I don't think this is that big of a deal. Sure, it takes away one place that has accumulated several rims, bikes, knee caps, and other broken bones, which is part of the racing history, but I don't think it will come near to making the race horrible to watch. That will be MvdP's fault.
Its a perfectly sensible idea. The problem is that chicane is not fit for purpose. You've replaced one danger with something more likely to cause a crash.
 
Its a perfectly sensible idea. The problem is that chicane is not fit for purpose. You've replaced one danger with something more likely to cause a crash.
I understand that. The danger moved from a crash that took down fewer people to a crash that could take down half of the peloton...but I think they will likely navigate the chicane perfectly fine, and let the race happen later, which is where it has been happening, mostly, in the last few years, anyway. It's been awhile since the race was won on the Arenberg. Sure, it whittles down the contenders, but it isn't the decisive sector.
 
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