The contrast is all the more striking as the last Paris-Roubaix, postponed from April to October 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, took place in the mud, for the first time in almost twenty years.
The "queen of the classics" will take place on Sunday over a distance of 257.2 kilometers, almost the same as last year (257.7 km), with thirty cobbled sections for a total of 54.8 kilometers (55 km in 2021).
"I don't remember having seen cobblestones so dry and in such good condition at the time of reconnaissance," said the race director during a press briefing held in Templeuve (North) in the crucial area of Paris-Roubaix.
"Usually there is always a point to review. This time it is not."
The weather forecast is predicting overall dry weather in the region crossed by the race until Saturday, for the women's race, and Sunday, for the men's race.
"It will go very quickly," said Thierry Gouvenou who expects a more open race.
"The weather conditions suit a lot of runners."
"As an organizer, he added, we have long asked for rain, we have been more than served in 2021 and we are happy to see the sun again. It's a lot less stress."
In the scale of difficulty established by the organizers, three cobbled sections are classified five stars: the Arenberg gap (Km 161.9), Mons-en-Pévèle (Km 208.6) and the crossroads of the Tree ( Km 240).
© 2022 AFP