SBS: Cycling Central

France, 12 Apr 09

Next to the Tour de France Paris Roubaix is the race all riders would love to win.

The 260 kilometre race is the most prestigious single-day professional bicycle road race on the calendar, held in northern France and starting in Compiègne, the race finishes in Roubaix, near the Belgian border.

Raced over secteurs of pave, Roubaix rewards the hard, the opportunistic and the rider with the strongest legs on the day. Usually ridden in rain, snow and mud, recent years have seen hot and dusty conditions on race day.