The organisers of Paris-Roubaix carried out their traditional final reconnaissance of the race route on Monday, confirming a total of 55km of cobbles during Sunday's 257km race.
A new colour-coding system has also been created to highlight the difficulty of the 29 sectors of pave. The hardest and longest sectors - that are traditionally given five stars, are also highlighted in black. Lesser sectors are coloured red, orange, blue and yellow, with coloured signage making it easy to identify the sectors.
There are three five-star black sectors in this year's race: The Trouée d'Arenberg, Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l'Arbre. The Arenberg traditionally sparks the first splits in the peloton, with 96km to go, while Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l'Arbre often inspire decisive attacks.
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A fast and dry race expected
This year’s race is expected to be dry and fast, with little rain falling in Northern France in recent weeks. Sun is forecast for Sunday with temperatures of 20C and only a modest northern breeze.
"In twelve years of recognition of the course, I had never seen the paving stones as clean. It's going to be fast, especially as the weather forecasts for Sunday are good," race director Christian Prudhomme told French media after enjoying breakfast in a cafe near Troisvilles before studying the key sectors of pave and inking a new agreement with local authorities to help fund the protection the pave tracks.
"We're expecting a 'grosse bagarre' Sagan and Van Avermaet will be looking for revenge and it'll be Tom Boonen's last race. Stopping his career after Paris-Roubaix is the most beautiful tribute he could have made to the race.”
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