Paris-Roubaix is a rare one-day race that presents teams to the crowd on the day before the actual race. It's a tradition for the Queen of the Classics and they're not likely going to break with it any time soon after this 115th edition.
All the teams arrived at the sunny Place Général de Gaulle in Compiègne in their buses on Saturday, more or less following the requested timing. French team Direct Énergie was the first squad on the podium, with Orica-Scott and last year's winner Mathew Hayman closing out the show.
The early introductions mostly saw teams with outside contenders taking the podium before Bora-Hansgrohe was announced, with world champion Peter Sagan. As usual, he wasn't offering up any lengthy answers during interviews. The Slovakian rider hopped through the mixed zone with Bora's press officer indicating a steady pace. When first asked about his injuries after Flanders he was hopeful. "I hope everything is okay. Day by day, it's going better," Sagan said.
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When asked about how it would be to reach the vélodrome in Roubaix with Tom Boonen, he sighed. "It's hard to predict the future. We will see tomorrow," Sagan said.
When asked if he felt it would be a special race because of the Boonen retirement, he acknowledged the significance of the event. "It's a special race for him. It's a special race for me too because it's Paris-Roubaix. It's a special race for everybody but for him maybe much more special," Sagan said.
Paris-Roubaix? "It's historic. It's a race with a lot of story. It's different. We ride over the cobblestones. It's a really hard race. There's no climbs but I can guarantee to you that the cobblestones sections take all the energy that you have. It's very unpredictable. It's very special to ride here. It's different from other races. Anything can happen. We are happy it's good weather," Sagan said, and disappeared towards the podium where he pleased the crowd with a 'bonjour', ‘merci beaucoup' and ‘vive Paris-Roubaix'.
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