Big race tomorrow

aParis-Roubaix - Don't miss it!

Everyone is getting ready for the big day. 109th Queen of the Classics, 197 riders, 25 teams.

Be sure to tune in (race coverage times in the USA):

Live Coverage of 2011 Paris-Roubaix 

The race starts in Compiegne, France at 10:10am
Last year it took Fabian Cancellara 6:35:10 to ride the course
Approximate finish time will be 4:45pm in France, 10:45am EST (8:45am MST)

Coverage:
6:15am EST Eurosport Paris-Roubaix Live Coverage (other links on Steephill.TV)
Sporza Live Coverage (Flemish)
6:55-7:55am EST CyclingNew.TV free coverage (then it becomes subscription).
If you need to couple Eurosport Live Audio you may find the link on Steephill.TV
Read live race updates on CyclingNews.com 

Check other possible coverage on Steephill.TV (Sporza I hope!), or check possible links offered by Twitter fans (a very good source). I usually watch live coverage from at least 2 channels because the camera angles and coverage is quite different. Sometimes one camera footage will be 1km ahead of the other and will feature different parts of the peloton or break aways. The coverage is early morning in America! Strong coffee and waffles are recommended.

Delayed Coverage of 2011 Paris-Roubaix

7:00-10:00pm EST on Versus TV (real television). This is a better time of day to enjoy some Belgian beers while watching the coverage, even though this is a French race, it is totally acceptable.

Remember this name: this is the new climb in 2011. Just 4km after the Arenberg Forest, Millonfosse is a 3 star, 1400 meter long section of cobbles that has been added to the Paris-Roubaix route this year. The only new section added this year, the other 27 sections have been used before. It is hard to believe there remains sections of cobbles still to be discovered in the north of France. And there is a crew of organizers trying to make this a very hard race year after year by changing up the climbs.

The cobbles will take it out of a man! The time of a cobbles race / a climber's race / a sprinter's race in minutes ( I think the TDF needs more cobbles!):
262km 2010 Paris-Roubaix was won by Fabian Cancellara, 6:35:10 (39.2 km/h)
260km 2010 Liege-Bastogne-Liege was won by Alexandre Vinokourov, 6:37:49
298km 2011 Milan-SanRemo was won by Matt Goss, 6:51:10 

Who will win? What the bookies think.  But have they accounted for crashes, flats, mechanicals and bike racing! 

A picture gallery from today on CyclingNews.com for us fans. Boonen, Hincapie, and Quinziato! 

Link to Paris-Roubaix 2011 route map

riding a bike from Compiegne to Roubaix, France

"A lot of people think it’s going to be easier because it’s dry but actually it’s faster and that means the guys in top form can make a bigger difference. On the wet cobbles it’s hard but your heart rate is lower so the dry will make it harder for the weaker guys to stay," ~ Rolf Sorensen.

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