“Hell, that’s the others.” Sartre’s theorem characterizes existentialism. But whenever the cycling classic Paris – Roubaix is due, it is advisable to change these words a little: Hell, these are the pavés, in northern France, the notorious cobblestones.
In France, they like to scoff at the fact that the north of the country ticks a little differently. One of the greatest successes of French cinema is based on this clash between the North and the rest. In “Welcome to the Sch’tis”, a conceited businessman is transferred from the South to the North. At first he was still in despair about the dialect that the people there spoke, about their eating habits, about their whole way of life. But more and more he falls in love with the region.
The north, that’s where the hardened industrial workers come from. It is precisely the North that has suffered from France’s deindustrialisation. The communists used to be successful here. Since these gradually disappeared from the 1980s onwards, the right-wing extremists around Jean-Marie and especially later around Marine Le Pen grew. In the first round of the presidential election last Sunday, Le Pen was particularly successful in the north and thus laid the foundation for her entry into the runoff election.
One of the few exceptions was Roubaix. The city with almost 100,000 inhabitants has experienced a comeback of the textile industry in recent years. Voter turnout in Roubaix was well below the national average, but left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon won by far the most votes here, followed by incumbent Emmanuel Macron and only then Le Pen.
The hosts have been waiting for a French winner since 1997
Roubaix, the north, is very rarely looked at in France. The region belongs, one would like to put it mockingly, to the “France profonde”, to the province, which hardly interests the Parisians. It is often cold and wet and gray there. The north offers a spectacle only once a year, namely when Paris – Roubaix comes to the performance on this Easter Sunday.
Few people know as much about this race as Marc Madiot, Team Groupama-FDJ Sport Director, who turns 63 this Saturday. Madiot is a cult, he has landed one YouTube hit after the other because of his emotional contributions beyond the cycling community. Especially at the Tour de France, he is repeatedly accompanied by a camera team and causes a stir almost every year: Madiot crying. Madiot laughing. Madiot yelling.
In Roubaix he won as an amateur, twice in the pros and in his debut season as director of sport his driver Frédéric Guesdon won. That was in 1997, 25 years ago; Guesdon is the last French driver to win the prestigious classic. When Paris – Roubaix is at the door, says Madiot, then they go to war. No race demands as much from the pros as the “Hell of the North”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/.”If you have driven Paris – Roubaix, you will notice the next day that you really Paris – Roubaix have driven,” says Madiot in an unfussy cool manner.
Last year it was particularly wild because of the pandemic-related move to autumn
The race is a testament to human irrationality. Competing on wheels: all well and good. Throw yourself into the finish sprint with a dozen other crazies; torture up a mountain until you vomit; plunge into a downhill run at more than 100 kilometers per hour – that’s something that can perhaps still be discussed. But to conquer lousy northern French roads, more than 50 kilometers of which are covered with chunky cobblestones, for around six hours in often changeable and sometimes even apocalyptic weather: You have to be more than just crazy for that.
Even five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault, who won once in Roubaix and still grumbled about it with violent vocabulary (“Une course de merde”), saw it that way. Paris – Roubaix is measured in terms of sporting entertainment value like the Streif in Kitzbühel, only longer and with collateral damage.
At the last event, which due to the pandemic did not take place in April as usual but in the fall, it rained so heavily that in some places on the cobblestones the drivers dived into a puddle and jumped up again like a dolphin. At the finish, the winner, Sonny Colbrelli, looked as if he had just been abandoned in the swamp for a week during a Bundeswehr training course. German team DSM’s French mountain specialist, Romain Bardet, watched the race on TV and tweeted that there will now be a split peloton: one that competed in Paris – Roubaix 2021. And the rest.
Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel is the top favorite this year
This year the big favorite is Mathieu van der Poel, who recently won the Tour of Flanders. Van der Poel’s mother is French, the 27-year-old is the grandson of Raymond Poulidor, the “eternal second” of the Tour de France. The French are again rather outsiders this year. Christoph Laporte, who switched to the Dutch Jumbo Visma team in winter and made a remarkable improvement in performance, still has the greatest chances for the host nation.
In Marc Madiot’s team, which in most cases prefers French drivers for the leading role, this time the Swiss Stefan Küng is the captain. Madiot, the patriotic man of emotions, has a great soft spot for traditions. He and his brother each became French road champions once. Whoever manages this can wear a jersey in the national colors for a year. The respect of the Madiots for this jersey is so great that the otherwise so present sponsor Groupama-FDJ can only be seen in small print on the collar of the maillot when a driver of their team enjoys the privilege of the championship shirt. Otherwise, sponsors occupy a conspicuous place in cycling.
However, Madiot is also open to experiments. Even as an active driver, he sprinted with a horse in a show race. Now, in 2022, streaming giant Netflix is getting into cycling. Based on the Formula 1 series “Drive to survive”, eight teams are to be accompanied in the Tour de France, including Madiot’s team. Filming has already started and Madiot reported more or less amused that those in charge were trying to set up a competition between his two biggest hopes for the general classification: the young Breton mountaineer David Gaudu and the slightly older climber from the Vosges, Thibaut Pinot.
Madiot says he is absolutely “zen”. Nothing can upset him. In France, bets are already being accepted as to when the Loire volcano will next erupt. Maybe this Sunday in northern France.