Illustration of the paving stones of Paris-Roubaix.

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Shutterstock / SIPA

  • The legendary Paris-Roubaix cycling race has been canceled due to the resurgence of the Covid-19 epidemic in the metropolis of Lille.

  • The president of the Hauts-de-France regional cycling committee considers this decision "incomprehensible".

The "queen of the classics" goes by the wayside.

While the Tour de France, Liége-Bastogne-Liége or Milan-San Remo were able to dispute, another monument of the cyclist, Paris-Roubaix, which was to be held on October 25, was canceled, this Friday, by decision of the prefect of the North.

The test, initially scheduled for April 12, had already been postponed to take into account the Covid-19 epidemic.

For Pascal Sergent, president of the Hauts-de-France regional cycling committee, this is an “incomprehensible decision”.

"It's an open-air event where you can make a thousand arrangements, reduce spectators to hot spots such as cobbled sectors or the velodrome," he explains to

20 Minutes

.

It is a very big disappointment.

When I see the prefect, I will tell him two words about it ”.

Belgian races maintained

The head of regional cycling is all the more angry that a few kilometers from Roubaix, on Belgian roads, the classics are, for the moment, maintained.

The Tour of Flanders, for example, is scheduled for October 18 and Ghent-Wevelgem on Sunday.

“We still allow a thousand people for football matches, so we were confident until this morning,” he says.

The Prefect set the bar very high in terms of organization and we responded to it on the model of what was done on the Tour de France.

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Why deprive the spectators of Cambrésis?

For him, this cancellation does not make sense: “We are told that it is because the metropolis of Lille is in the red zone, but the race takes very little the roads of the metropolis.

Why deprive spectators of Cambrésis, Valenciennois or Somme?

We could find solutions ”.

Unlike the Tour de France which allows Amaury Sport organization (ASO) to make big profits, the Paris-Roubaix event is simply financially balanced.

“Not organizing this race causes no financial loss,” explains Pascal Sergent.

Only the feeling of seeing a symbol and part of our heritage disappear this year.

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  • Covid 19

  • Lille

  • Coronavirus

  • Paris-roubaix

  • Cycling

  • Sport

  • Cycling