UDINE. Welcome to the “hell of the north”. Saturday 3 October will not be an ordinary day for women’s cycling because the first Paris-Roubaix will be held, the classic of pavè, stones, perhaps the most famous cycling race in the world, even for the fairer sex. And it will happen 125 years after the first edition, which dates back to 1896. And among the participants, the cream of women’s cycling, there will also be the Friulian. Elena Cecchini.
The 29-year-old from San Marco di Mereto di Tomba, three Italian titles on the bulletin board, but also a fifth place in the Tour of Flanders a few years ago, a week after the World Championship in Belgium goes big hunting on the stones with her fierce Sd Worx, the Dutch squadron full of athletes capable of taking home the famous trophy with the cube of pavé, the one that Coppi, Gimondi, Merckx, De Vlaemink, Moser, Hinault, Ballerini, Museeuw, Cancellara have raised in history, the last time before the pandemic , Philippe Gilbert in the spring of 2019 (a century seems to have passed) and that now they can also raise Van Vleuten, Bastianelli, Longo Borghini and, why not, Cecchini herself.
NO REVENUE
In short, Saturday will not be just any day for women on bicycles. It will be another step towards glory. “It is not a revenge – explains Elena Cecchini – it is another step forward for a movement that has been making great strides in recent years. Apart from the first 100 km and the mythical Arenberg forest, we will run the same last km and stretches of cobblestones as our colleagues. And an escape from afar will immediately go away and you will have to run on your stomach for the whole race. The other day, during the reconnaissance, I was impressed by the pavé sections, but above all by the legendary Roubaix velodrome that I saw on TV as a child while admiring the races “.
HISTORY
Already the velodrome, it all started from there. In 1095 two Roubaix spinners, Theodore Vienne and Maurice Perez decided to build a velodrome near the Barbieux park not far from Roubaix. It was the largest park in northern France and that velodrome, from the 333.3-meter concrete track that the following year was inaugurated, entered, but still did not know it, into the legend of sport. Track races at the time were more popular and known than road races, there were interminable races such as the Paris-Brest-Paris or the Paris-Brxuelles and in 1896 the two “visionaries” thought of a race to be organized from Paris to Roubaix, with absolute cobblestones as protagonists. Those stones which the country roads were coated with to allow the carts that transported the coal from the mines not to sink into the mud. And after the Great War, when the race resumed among desolations, carcasses of dead animals, bad roads, Paris-Roubaix became the “hell of the north”, because starting from Paris, and then from Chantilly and, from about twenty years, from Compiegne (90 km north of Paris) to the north it was like going to hell, among increasingly sought after stretches of cobblestones, because the roads were asphalted, and soon became national heritage.
“Luckily, I run in a top team and I will have a perfect bike to tackle the cobblestones – continues Elena Cecchini – Specialized focuses a lot on this race, it has made available thirty tubulars, suspension bikes with shock absorbers that can be inserted through a small button on the handlebar, disc brakes. Compared to other teams we will have an advantage, then the legs will count and, luckily, at least from the latest weather forecasts during the race it should not rain otherwise the stones would turn into a continuous trap. But I fear the wind ”.
PATH
There will be 17 cobbled sections, two sectors of four narrow strips in 116.4 kilometers between Denain and Roubaix. “Mons en Pevèle” with those terrifying 3 km and the mythical “Carrefur de l’Abre”, the crossing of the tree, that of the huge windmill, another two km of passion, will be the key points of a race that the Friulian champion has learned to know on television. “But not thanks to my boyfriend Elia Viviani, who made it, but he definitely prefers the parquet of the velodromes to the stones of the north”, jokes Elena.
Yes, because the girls thrill at the idea of competing with the legend and entering it from Saturday. Since, two years ago, the inclusion of the women’s Roubaix race in the group was made official, even the most successful champions such as Annemiek Van Vleuten or our Elisa Longo Borghini had put her in their sights. The pandemic forced the organizers to cancel the one of a year ago, both in the spring and also in the autumn when the race was moved after the first lockdown, therefore to postpone the debut of the men’s 2021 edition to the autumn. the women’s one last April. “I saw my brother Paolo fighting on those stones and there I began to dream of running it, even if it is not suited to my characteristics”, said for example the Italian champion Elisa Longoborghini of Trek Segafredo. And the Piedmontese Elisa Balsamo will also make her debut with the rainbow jersey, won a week ago at the World Cup. Among the favorites there will be Van Vleuten (Movistar), Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma), Chantal Van den Broek-Blaak, teammate of Cecchini in Team SD Worx, the British Elizabeth Deignan (Trek-Segafredo), Marta Bastianelli (Alé BTC Ljubljana), another who, after winning the Tour of Flanders, has always dreamed of competing with stones and seems very suitable for the route.
FIRST THE GLORY THEN THE AWARDS
About Van Vleuten. Do you remember at the 2017 Giro d’Italia taming the Zoncolan from the Ovaro side, with a monstrous climb still among the best all-time times between men and women? “Here, after the Zoncolan – continues Elena Cecchini – we will overcome other Pillars of Hercules in Roubaix. We will show that we are able to run on this path too and to put on a show. True, the premiums are still much lower than those for men, but we’ll get to parity. Who will win La Roubaix among us will pocket 1,600 euros, who will win 16,000 among males, but I prefer that in the meantime the races and the visibility of our movement increase. Then, thanks to the live TV shows of the races, the increase in sponsors, the prizes and salaries for us athletes will also increase. You can’t have everything right away, but let’s start changing things. I hope that also in Italy soon we can run a Milano-Sanremo for women, obviously with a shortened route perhaps to 180 km, so twenty more than the maximum limit of women’s races, to break another taboo. The important thing, however, is that the races in Italy have an international character so that they see the best athletes in the world at the starting line ”.
THE ORANGE MODEL
In short, Roubaix is another degree exam for women’s cycling, in the North, especially in the Netherlands, light years ahead of Italy. Elena Cecchini runs for a Dutch team, she knows something about it. “The difference can be seen in how many strong girls there are and in the many teams that try to make them emerge, gradually. In Italy from the junior category you want the result immediately, in Holland instead they prepare the athlete for a long and profitable career. And then the organization is at the top, in line with that of male colleagues “. In the meantime, the live broadcast of the race will start on Eurosport from 2.30 pm. Not to be missed for fans.
SUNDAY WITH AC MILAN
And on Sunday it will be the turn of another Friulian, Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) to make his debut in the classic pavè at the age of 21 (he turned it on Friday 1 October). After a summer in which he won Olympic gold, he will compete with the race of his dreams. Two hundred and fifty-seven km, thirty sectors of cobblestones for a total of 54 km, including the Arenberg Forest, symbol of the race, wonderfully arranged in record time by a group of volunteers. The lockdown had left its mark with the vegetation that had taken possession of that terrifying strip of stones that, one hundred kilometers from the velodrome, has always divided those who can still hope for success (and there are few) from those who have to postpone their dreams of glory. For bookmakers, the favorite is Wout Van Aert, the Belgian champion of Jumbo Visma, king of the cross who came out of the world championship. There will also be the other lord of the dirt road, the Dutch rival Mathieu van der Poel. The two a year ago at the Tour of Flanders moved in the autumn due to a pandemic these days gave birth to a duel to the last centimeter. Then Peter Sagan, Jasper Stuyven, the Italian champion Sonny Colbrelli, Milan’s teammate, and Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck), to hold high the tricolor flag. Bad news from the weather: it will rain. Otherwise what hell is it?